MCI, Inc. is an American telecommunications subsidiary of Verizon Communications that is headquartered in Ashburn, unincorporated Loudoun County, Virginia. The corporation was originally formed as a result of the merger of WorldCom (formerly known as LDDS followed by LDDS WorldCom) and MCI Communications, and used the name MCI WorldCom followed by WorldCom before taking its final name on April 12, 2003 as part of the corporation's emergence from bankruptcy. The company formerly traded on NASDAQ under the symbols "WCOM" (pre-bankruptcy) and "MCIP" (post-bankruptcy). The corporation was purchased by Verizon Communications with the deal closing on January 6, 2006,[1] and is now identified as that company's Verizon Business division with the local residential divisions slowly integrated into local Verizon subsidiaries.
MCI's history, combined with the histories of companies it has acquired, echoes most of the trends that have swept American telecommunications in the past half-century: It was instrumental in pushing legal and regulatory changes that led to the breakup of the AT&T monopoly that dominated American telephony; its purchase by WorldCom and subsequent bankruptcy in the face of accounting scandals was symptomatic of the Internet excesses of the late 1990s. It accepted a proposed purchase by Verizon for US$7.6 billion.
For a time, WorldCom was the United States's second largest long distance phone company (after AT&T). WorldCom grew largely by aggressively acquiring other telecommunications companies, most notably MCI Communications. It also owned the Tier 1 ISP UUNET, a major part of the Internet backbone.[citation needed] It was headquartered in Clinton, Mississippi, before being moved to Virginia.
The 10 Principles of Privacy
Our Privacy Policy reflects our compliance with fair information practices, applicable laws and standards of practice.
1. Accountability
We take our commitment to securing your privacy very seriously. Each physician and employee associated with the Practice is responsible for the personal information under his/her control. Our employees are informed about the importance of privacy and receive information periodically to update them about our Privacy Policy and related issues.
2. Identifying Purposes: Why We Collect Information
We ask you for information to establish a relationship and serve your medical needs. We obtain most of our information about you directly from you, or from other health practitioners whom you have seen and authorized to disclose to us. You are entitled to know how we use your information and this is described in the Privacy Statement posted in each of our clinics. We will limit the information we collect to what we need for those purposes, and we will use it only for those purposes. We will obtain your consent if we wish to use your information for any other purpose.
3. Consent
You have the right to determine how your personal health information is used and disclosed. For most health care purposes, your consent is implied as a result of your consent to treatment, however, in some circumstances your express, sometimes written, consent may be required.
4. Limiting Collection
We collect information by fair and lawful means and collect only that information which may be necessary for purposes related to the provision of your medical care.
5. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention
The information we request from you is used for the purposes defined. We will seek your consent before using the information for purposes beyond the scope of the posted Privacy Statement.
Under no circumstances do we sell patient lists or other personal information to third parties. There are some types of disclosure of your personal health information that may occur as part of this Practice fulfilling its routine obligations and/or practice management. This includes consultants and suppliers to the Practice, on the understanding that they abide by our Privacy Policy, and only to the extent necessary to allow them to provide business services or support to this Practice.
We will retain your information only for the time it is required for the purposes we describe and once your personal information is no longer required, it will be destroyed. However, due to our on-going exposure to potential claims, some information is kept for a longer period.
6. Accuracy
We endeavour to ensure that all decisions involving your personal information are based upon accurate and timely information. While we will do our best to base our decisions on accurate information, we rely on you to disclose all material information and to inform us of any relevant changes.
7. Safeguards: Protecting Your Information
We protect your information with appropriate safeguards and security measures. The Practice maintains personal information in a combination of paper and electronic files. Recent paper records concerning individual’s personal information are stored in files kept onsite at our office. Older records may be stored offsite.
Access to personal information will be authorized only for the physicians and employees associated with the Practice, and other agents who require access in the performance of their duties, and to those otherwise authorized by law.
We provide information to health care providers acting on your behalf, on the understanding that they are also bound by law and ethics to safeguard your privacy. Other organizations and agents must agree to abide by our Privacy Policy and may be asked to sign contracts to that effect. We will give them only the information necessary to perform the services for which they are engaged, and will require that they not store, use or disclose the information for purposes other than to carry out those services.
Our computer systems are password-secured and constructed in such a way that only authorized individuals can access secure systems and databases.
If you send us an e-mail message that includes personal information, such as your name included in the “address”, we will use that information to respond to your inquiry. Please remember that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. If your communication is very sensitive, you should not send it electronically unless the e-mail is encrypted or your browser indicates that the access is secure.
8. Openness: Keeping You Informed
The Practice has prepared this plain-language Privacy Policy to keep you informed. You may ask to receive a copy of it from the clinic manager/supervisor.
If you have any additional questions or concerns about privacy, we invite you to contact by e-mail at www.mcithedoctorsoffice.com and we will address your concerns to the best of our ability.
9. Access and Correction
With limited exceptions, we will give you access to the information we retain about you within a reasonable time, upon presentation of a written request and satisfactory identification.
We may charge you a fee for this service and if so, we will give you notice in advance of processing your request.
If you find errors of fact in your personal health information, please notify us as soon as possible and we will make the appropriate corrections. We are not required to correct information relating to clinical observations or opinions made in good faith. You have a right to append a short statement of disagreement to your record if we refuse to make a requested change.
If we deny your request for access to your personal information, we will advise you in writing of the reason for the refusal and you may then challenge our decision.
10. Challenging Compliance
We encourage you to contact us with any questions or concerns you might have about your privacy or our Privacy Policy. We will investigate and respond to your concerns about any aspect of our handling of your information.
In 2000, the finance group at Falls Church, Virginiabased Inova Health System faced severe recruitment and retention challenges. Inova is a not-for-profit healthcare system consisting of five hospitals and offering a broad range of services, including nursing homes and assisted living services, mental health services, wellness classes, and freestanding emergency and urgent care. The year had brought incredible wealth to many area residents. Northern Virginia was riding high on a booming economy, fueled by the success of technology companies America Online (now AOL Time Warner, Inc.) and MCI WorldCom, Inc. The median annual income per household in Inova's home county rose to $90,000. As the area's high-tech communications and dot-coin companies experienced phenomenal growth, Inova's staff vacancy rate increased. Trained, experienced technology and finance employees were being lured to the companies by significant stock options, signing bonuses, and profit-sharing plans--incentives with which Inova could not co mpete. As staffing needs began to reach crisis levels, it became apparent a new, more effective model was necessary for attracting and securing high-quality employees.
MCI reported a $391 million loss in the 4th qtr 1997, including charges totaling $752 million for restructurings and other expenses. The long-distance telephone company otherwise met analysts' consensus estimates. Revenue growth and traffic surpassed expectations, a surprising development given several suitors' open courtship of MCI since 1997. Net loss totaled 56 cents share on a diluted basis, which includes 66 cents a share in after-tax charges. By comparison, MCI's 4th qtr 1996 income amounted to $303 million, or 44 cents a diluted share. The 4th qtr 1997 charge included $235 million in employee retention bonuses and sales incentives to retain long-term corporate customers; $252 million for revamping its many long-distance, local and Internet-based networks; and $265 million for bolstering its data centers. MCI also reported $5.11 billion in revenue, a 7.5% increase over the 4th qtr 1996's $4.75 billion. MCI has allowed WorldCom to purchase the company for $36 billion in stock and cash.
MCI's history, combined with the histories of companies it has acquired, echoes most of the trends that have swept American telecommunications in the past half-century: It was instrumental in pushing legal and regulatory changes that led to the breakup of the AT&T monopoly that dominated American telephony; its purchase by WorldCom and subsequent bankruptcy in the face of accounting scandals was symptomatic of the Internet excesses of the late 1990s. It accepted a proposed purchase by Verizon for US$7.6 billion.
For a time, WorldCom was the United States's second largest long distance phone company (after AT&T). WorldCom grew largely by aggressively acquiring other telecommunications companies, most notably MCI Communications. It also owned the Tier 1 ISP UUNET, a major part of the Internet backbone.[citation needed] It was headquartered in Clinton, Mississippi, before being moved to Virginia.
The 10 Principles of Privacy
Our Privacy Policy reflects our compliance with fair information practices, applicable laws and standards of practice.
1. Accountability
We take our commitment to securing your privacy very seriously. Each physician and employee associated with the Practice is responsible for the personal information under his/her control. Our employees are informed about the importance of privacy and receive information periodically to update them about our Privacy Policy and related issues.
2. Identifying Purposes: Why We Collect Information
We ask you for information to establish a relationship and serve your medical needs. We obtain most of our information about you directly from you, or from other health practitioners whom you have seen and authorized to disclose to us. You are entitled to know how we use your information and this is described in the Privacy Statement posted in each of our clinics. We will limit the information we collect to what we need for those purposes, and we will use it only for those purposes. We will obtain your consent if we wish to use your information for any other purpose.
3. Consent
You have the right to determine how your personal health information is used and disclosed. For most health care purposes, your consent is implied as a result of your consent to treatment, however, in some circumstances your express, sometimes written, consent may be required.
4. Limiting Collection
We collect information by fair and lawful means and collect only that information which may be necessary for purposes related to the provision of your medical care.
5. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention
The information we request from you is used for the purposes defined. We will seek your consent before using the information for purposes beyond the scope of the posted Privacy Statement.
Under no circumstances do we sell patient lists or other personal information to third parties. There are some types of disclosure of your personal health information that may occur as part of this Practice fulfilling its routine obligations and/or practice management. This includes consultants and suppliers to the Practice, on the understanding that they abide by our Privacy Policy, and only to the extent necessary to allow them to provide business services or support to this Practice.
We will retain your information only for the time it is required for the purposes we describe and once your personal information is no longer required, it will be destroyed. However, due to our on-going exposure to potential claims, some information is kept for a longer period.
6. Accuracy
We endeavour to ensure that all decisions involving your personal information are based upon accurate and timely information. While we will do our best to base our decisions on accurate information, we rely on you to disclose all material information and to inform us of any relevant changes.
7. Safeguards: Protecting Your Information
We protect your information with appropriate safeguards and security measures. The Practice maintains personal information in a combination of paper and electronic files. Recent paper records concerning individual’s personal information are stored in files kept onsite at our office. Older records may be stored offsite.
Access to personal information will be authorized only for the physicians and employees associated with the Practice, and other agents who require access in the performance of their duties, and to those otherwise authorized by law.
We provide information to health care providers acting on your behalf, on the understanding that they are also bound by law and ethics to safeguard your privacy. Other organizations and agents must agree to abide by our Privacy Policy and may be asked to sign contracts to that effect. We will give them only the information necessary to perform the services for which they are engaged, and will require that they not store, use or disclose the information for purposes other than to carry out those services.
Our computer systems are password-secured and constructed in such a way that only authorized individuals can access secure systems and databases.
If you send us an e-mail message that includes personal information, such as your name included in the “address”, we will use that information to respond to your inquiry. Please remember that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. If your communication is very sensitive, you should not send it electronically unless the e-mail is encrypted or your browser indicates that the access is secure.
8. Openness: Keeping You Informed
The Practice has prepared this plain-language Privacy Policy to keep you informed. You may ask to receive a copy of it from the clinic manager/supervisor.
If you have any additional questions or concerns about privacy, we invite you to contact by e-mail at www.mcithedoctorsoffice.com and we will address your concerns to the best of our ability.
9. Access and Correction
With limited exceptions, we will give you access to the information we retain about you within a reasonable time, upon presentation of a written request and satisfactory identification.
We may charge you a fee for this service and if so, we will give you notice in advance of processing your request.
If you find errors of fact in your personal health information, please notify us as soon as possible and we will make the appropriate corrections. We are not required to correct information relating to clinical observations or opinions made in good faith. You have a right to append a short statement of disagreement to your record if we refuse to make a requested change.
If we deny your request for access to your personal information, we will advise you in writing of the reason for the refusal and you may then challenge our decision.
10. Challenging Compliance
We encourage you to contact us with any questions or concerns you might have about your privacy or our Privacy Policy. We will investigate and respond to your concerns about any aspect of our handling of your information.
In 2000, the finance group at Falls Church, Virginiabased Inova Health System faced severe recruitment and retention challenges. Inova is a not-for-profit healthcare system consisting of five hospitals and offering a broad range of services, including nursing homes and assisted living services, mental health services, wellness classes, and freestanding emergency and urgent care. The year had brought incredible wealth to many area residents. Northern Virginia was riding high on a booming economy, fueled by the success of technology companies America Online (now AOL Time Warner, Inc.) and MCI WorldCom, Inc. The median annual income per household in Inova's home county rose to $90,000. As the area's high-tech communications and dot-coin companies experienced phenomenal growth, Inova's staff vacancy rate increased. Trained, experienced technology and finance employees were being lured to the companies by significant stock options, signing bonuses, and profit-sharing plans--incentives with which Inova could not co mpete. As staffing needs began to reach crisis levels, it became apparent a new, more effective model was necessary for attracting and securing high-quality employees.
MCI reported a $391 million loss in the 4th qtr 1997, including charges totaling $752 million for restructurings and other expenses. The long-distance telephone company otherwise met analysts' consensus estimates. Revenue growth and traffic surpassed expectations, a surprising development given several suitors' open courtship of MCI since 1997. Net loss totaled 56 cents share on a diluted basis, which includes 66 cents a share in after-tax charges. By comparison, MCI's 4th qtr 1996 income amounted to $303 million, or 44 cents a diluted share. The 4th qtr 1997 charge included $235 million in employee retention bonuses and sales incentives to retain long-term corporate customers; $252 million for revamping its many long-distance, local and Internet-based networks; and $265 million for bolstering its data centers. MCI also reported $5.11 billion in revenue, a 7.5% increase over the 4th qtr 1996's $4.75 billion. MCI has allowed WorldCom to purchase the company for $36 billion in stock and cash.
Last edited: