Protecting your privacy is important to us. This site has security/privacy measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. If you join our secure members-only site, myTRICARE Secure, your username and password recognize you as a member and validate your access to your personal information.
PGBA processes TRICARE claims and answers questions from TRICARE beneficiaries, providers and government agencies regarding the TRICARE program. We handle this important work as a subcontractor to other companies who hold contracts with the Department of Defense (DoD). As a subcontractor, we are charged with safeguarding your personal information for the DoD.
Although we may share certain demographic information with the DoD and the TRICARE contractors for whom we process TRICARE claims, PGBA will not sell or release your personal information to any other company or organization.
We use your Internet Protocol (IP) address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our Web site. We also use your IP address to gather broad demographic information. We do not link your IP address to any personally identifiable information about you, nor do we store your IP address.
A "cookie" allows information to be sent from our Web site to your computer while you are visiting the site. We may track how you navigate through the site and the areas in which you show interest, but we do not identify you personally except to validate your access to your personal information. This is similar to a traffic report: it tracks trends and behaviors, but does not identify individuals. Information gathered may include date and time of visits, to myTRICARE.com, pages viewed and time spent on our site.
If you join our secure, members-only myTRICARE Secure, we will create a "cookie" on your computer that identifies you as a registered member of myTRICARE.com.
In some cases, if a visitor returns to the Web site after receiving a cookie, their browser sends cookie information back to the Web site. This is useful to the visitor if he or she has established a password at a particular Web site and wants to be identified by that site to perform a function or transaction.
The registered member may set the Web browser on his or her computer to have the cookies expire:
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on a specified date, or
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after a specific period of time, or
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when a transaction has been completed, or
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when a user turns off their browser
Your Web browser may alert you and permit you to refuse cookies. When you receive an alert you may choose at that time to refuse that cookie. If the use of cookies is a concern to you, then please make sure your browser has this capability, and that you set your browser to alert you accordingly. Newer browser versions allow you to be alerted or to automatically refuse cookies. You may need to download a more current version of your Web browser from your service provider in order to obtain this option.
As myTRICARE.com continues, the cookie technology will enable us to offer you convenient features, such as easier navigation through myTRICARE.com, the ability to receive services from select third-party partners and the ability to save customized information.
As technology evolves, we will continue to look for better ways to gather and use information to offer products and services that best meet your healthcare needs, and to protect and safeguard information about you and your dependents. We encourage you to review our privacy policies periodically for updates.
This site contains links to other sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites.
Federal Privacy Act of 1974
"The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was enacted in 1967 as an amendment to the " Public Information " section of the Administrative Procedures Act. The purpose of the Freedom of Information Act was to reach a workable balance between the right of the public to know and the need of the Government to keep information in confidence, to the extent necessary, without permitting indiscriminate secrecy."
As stated on the TRICARE Government Web site (http://www.tricare.osd.mil/)
The Privacy Act of 1974 requires agencies to:
a. Publish in the Federal Register annual notice of the existence and character of any system of records from which information is retrieved by some personal identifier.
b. Itemize in the public notice the "routine uses" of the records contained in a system of records, including the categories of users and the purpose of such use. No other use or disclosure of the information shall be made without the express written consent of the individual to whom the record pertains.
c. Establish procedures for granting individuals access to records or information pertaining to them and for reviewing requests from individuals concerning the amendment of any records pertaining to them. A requester may ask the agency to review the agency's initial adverse determination. If the review is again adverse the agency then must advise the requester of his/her right to seek judicial review.
d. Establish procedures governing the collection, safeguarding and maintenance of personal information.
Regarding "General Correspondence"
a. In responding to general correspondence, the reply will be sent to the beneficiary regardless of who made the inquiry. If a spouse or other family member makes an inquiry concerning a beneficiary's claim, etc., the inquiry will not be returned to the spouse or family member unanswered. Rather, a reply will be addressed to the beneficiary with an explanation that under the Privacy Act the reply could not be made to the spouse or family member who made the inquiry. Also, if an inquiry is made by the beneficiary, including an eligible family member regardless of age, the reply will be addressed to the beneficiary, not the beneficiary's spouse (service member) or parent. The only exceptions are when a parent writes on behalf of a minor child (under eighteen (18) years of age) or when a guardian writes on behalf of a physically or mentally incompetent beneficiary. However, in responding to a parent of a minor or guardian of an incompetent, the Privacy Act precludes disclosure of sensitive information (e.g., abortion, alcohol and drug abuse, venereal disease, etc.) or information which, if released, would have an adverse effect on the beneficiary.
b. When a reply is made to the beneficiary, the reply will be fully responsive to the inquiry whether or not the query was originally made by the beneficiary. Copies of the response will NOT be sent to any family member, spouse or other person who may have made the inquiry.
c. The guidelines outlined above apply when the beneficiary has not granted permission to the spouse or family member to access the beneficiary's claim information on myTRICARE.com. The reply will be sent to the inquiring party in the event that the beneficiary has granted such access to that individual. The rules regarding the disclosure of sensitive information apply regardless of any permissions that the beneficiary may have granted.
Links
As you navigate myTRICARE.com; you will be able to link to other affiliated sites for special offers or information. Please note that myTRICARE.com provides these links for your convenience, but inclusion of the link does not imply endorsement by myTRICARE.com or PGBA. Furthermore, the linked sites are not under our control and we are not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained as a linked site. For this reason, we encourage you to look at the privacy policies of those specific sites.
Copyright
Copyright and other laws protect all information, content and all other materials offered through myTRICARE.com. You may not copy or distribute any of these materials without PGBA's prior written consent, except to the extent permitted in any accompanying agreement or license. You may use these materials for personal, non-commercial use only, so long as you do not modify the materials and you retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained in the materials.