Smart Search is an optional feature that helps you locate APC/OPPS information within the APC Assistant’s internal reference data. Because generative AI tools may occasionally produce incomplete or inaccurate results, all Smart Search outputs should be treated as preliminary guidance and must be verified against official APC/OPPS references and your organization’s policies. Do not enter any Protected Health Information (PHI), including patient names, medical record numbers, dates of birth, or clinical narratives.
Scope & Definitions
- Scope. This notice governs your use of the Smart Search feature within the APC Assistant application.
- Personal Data. Information that identifies or reasonably can be linked to an individual (e.g., name, email, employee ID).
- Protected Health Information (PHI). Individually identifiable health information regulated by HIPAA/HITECH. Do not input PHI into Smart Search.
- Sensitive Personal Information. Includes, for example, health data, government IDs, financial account info, precise geolocation, or biometric data. Do not input such data.
- Session Data. Your search queries and generated responses stored temporarily to support your active session in the application and database.
Responsible Use Requirements
- Use Smart Search as a starting point—not a final answer—and verify against official APC/OPPS guidelines and internal policies.
- Exercise professional judgment for coding, grouping, edits, and reimbursement decisions.
- Do not enter PHI, patient identifiers, clinical narratives, or sensitive operational data.
- Interpret AI‑generated explanations cautiously, especially for complex edits, APC group assignments, and reimbursement scenarios.
- Ensure your use complies with your organization's privacy, security, and data governance standards.
How Smart Search Processes Your Data
- Data Sources. Responses are generated solely from the APC Assistant's internal reference repositories (e.g., Procedures, Modifiers, APCs, Diagnoses, Revenue Codes, OCE Edits, Crosswalks, Bill Types).
- Processing Environment. Your queries are processed within your organization’s secure, controlled computing environment. No external internet lookups are used.
- Data Minimization. We process only the text you enter and the system context needed to answer your question. User credentials are not sent to the AI service.
- Session Context. We temporarily cache your queries and answers during your active session to provide relevant follow‑ups and faster responses.
- Access Controls. Access is restricted to authenticated users. Your session context is associated with your organizational login and is not shared with other users.
- Encryption in Transit. Communications between your browser, the application, and the AI service are protected with industry‑standard encryption (e.g., TLS).
What We Do
- Use your questions to locate relevant content in the APC reference database.
- Maintain conversation context during your active session so follow‑ups are understood.
- Direct your question to the correct APC reference area (e.g., Procedures, Modifiers, APCs, Diagnoses, Revenue Codes, OCE Edits, Crosswalks, Bill Types).
- Send your question—without personal identifiers or PHI—to your organization's secure environment.
- Generate answers using only internal APC Assistant reference data.
- Temporarily store session data to improve response speed and continuity during your active session only.
- Automatically clear session data when you explicitly sign out or when your session expires due to inactivity.
- Remind you to validate results against official APC sources and organizational policy.
What We Do Not Do
- We do not accept, store, or process PHI, clinical records, or patient identifiers.
- We do not send your personal identifiers (name, username, employee ID) to the AI service. Only your question text is sent.
- We do not query the public internet or external systems; only internal APC sources are used.
- We do not modify APC reference data (read‑only access).
- We do not share your questions or responses with other users.
- We do not persist chat history across sessions; each new session starts fresh without prior session data.
- We do not use persistent browser localStorage to carry chat data beyond the current session. Conversation data is stored in per‑tab sessionStorage during your active session and cleared when the tab is closed. Authentication cookies may be used by the application for session management but are not used to persist chat content across sessions.
- The application does not intentionally collect or store IP addresses, device identifiers, or browser fingerprints in application‑level logs. (Your organization's network infrastructure, load balancers, and Azure platform may retain such data for security, operations, and compliance purposes according to your infrastructure policies.)
Data Retention & Deletion
- Session data (your queries, generated responses, and conversation metadata) is retained only for the duration of your active session.
- Session data in the browser is cleared immediately when you close the tab, sign out or when the session expires.
- Prior session data does not carry over into new sessions.
- For audit purposes, session metadata (timestamps, conversation IDs) may be retained in system logs according to your organization's data retention policies.
Security
- Data in transit is protected by industry‑standard encryption (e.g., TLS). Your organization and Microsoft Azure apply layered security, access controls, and monitoring to the hosting environment.
- Smart Search operates with read‑only access to internal APC reference datasets; it cannot modify or delete source data.
- System and error details are not exposed to end users to protect the integrity of the environment.
- Session data is associated with your authenticated user identity and is not accessible to other users.
Regulatory Notes
- Smart Search is designed for internal use by your organization and is not intended to process PHI or other sensitive personal data.
- To support HIPAA/HITECH obligations, users must not input PHI.
- Follow your organization's privacy and data governance guidance.
Accuracy, Limitations & Disclaimers
- Informational Use Only. Smart Search may generate incomplete or inaccurate results. Treat outputs as preliminary guidance and verify with official APC/OPPS references and organizational policies before making coding or reimbursement decisions.
- No Warranties. Smart Search is provided "as is" without warranties of accuracy, completeness, or fitness for a particular purpose.
- No Legal or Coding Advice. Outputs are not legal, compliance, or professional coding advice. Final coding and billing decisions remain your responsibility.
Your Choices
- Smart Search is optional. You may decline or close this notice to avoid using Smart Search.
- You can sign out at any time to end the session, which clears conversational history and active session data.
- Use the "Clear Chat" button to manually remove all conversation history from the current session.
