The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was passed in 1996. The goals of the act is to protect health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they lose or change jobs and also to promote patient privacy and health information security. Click here to learn more about HIPAA.

When participating in KidneyTel's disease management programs, patients have certain rights and responsibilities as set forth in HIPAA. Click on the links below to learn more about patient rights and patient responsibilities.

Patient Rights
As a KidneyTel patient, you have the right to:

1. Have information about KidneyTel, and its staff’s qualifications.
2. Decline participation or dis-enroll from programs and services offered by KidneyTel.
3. Know which KidneyTel staff members are responsible for managing your care and how to make a change.
4. Be supported by KidneyTel to make decisions interactively with your practitioners regarding your health care.
5. Be informed of all the disease management treatment options included or mentioned in KidneyTel's clinical guidelines, whether covered or not by the sponsoring organization and to discuss these with your treating practitioners.
6. Have personal identifiable data and medical information kept confidential, know what entities have access to your information and to know procedures used by KidneyTel to ensure privacy and confidentiality.
7. Be treated courteously and respectfully by all the KidneyTel staff.
8. Communicate complaints to KidneyTel and receive instructions on how to use the complaint process, including understanding KidneyTel's standards of timeliness for responding to and resolving issues of quality and complaints.
9. Receive information that is understandable.
10. Have KidneyTel act as your care coordination resource.

Patient Responsibilities
As a KidneyTel patient, your responsibilities are to:

1. Always follow your treatment plan, and if you think you need to change your treatment plan, talk with you doctor first.
2. Always tell the truth about your condition and the things you do to take care of yourself. This will provide KidneyTel with information necessary to carry out its services.
3. Always tell your doctor or dialysis nurse when you are in pain or when you feel sick.
4. Notify KidneyTel and your doctor if you decide to dis-enroll from the program.

Provider Rights
As a practitioner who has one or more patients participating in the KidneyTel Care Management program, you have certain rights. These “practitioner rights” are listed below. If you have any questions about these, please call KidneyTel at 1-888-877-3625.

1. The right to have information provided about KidneyTel, its programs and services, sponsoring organizations, staff, staff’s qualifications and any contractual relationships.
2. The right to be informed about how KidneyTel coordinates its interventions with treatment plans for individual patients.
3. The right to know how to contact the person responsible for managing and communicating with your patient.
4. The right to be supported by KidneyTel in making decisions interactively with patients regarding their health care.
5. The right to receive courteous and respectful treatment from the KidneyTel staff.
6. The right to communicate complaints to KidneyTel.
7. The right to decline to participate in or work with the KidneyTel programs and services for your patients, if your health plan contract allows you to decline