Updated as of April 1, 2020
How we Protect our Patients’ Private Information
We are dedicated to maintaining information confidentiality and complying with regulatory requirements by – among other things – limiting access to only those users that have a legitimate need to view it, and regularly educating employees on information protection.
We are committed to the care and improvement of human life, and that includes protecting your private information.
Acceptance of Terms
Your privacy is important to us. This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) covers our online privacy practices with respect to use and/or disclosure of information we may collect from you when you access or use our Services. This policy does not apply to information collected through other means, such as by telephone or in person. Please review our privacy practices and contact us at info@careunited.com if you have questions.
By accessing and using our Services, you acknowledge and fully understand our Privacy Policy and freely consent to the information collection and use practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not consent to the information collection and use practices described below, you must immediately cease any access or use of our Services.
Information Collected
We collect certain information from and about our users in three ways:
- directly from our web server logs
- with cookies from you and our other users
- Web Server Logs
When you access or use our Services, we may track information to administer our Services and analyze its usage. Examples of information we may track include:
- Your Internet protocol address
- The kind of browser or computer you use
- Number of links you click within our Services
- State or country from which you accessed our Services
- Date and time of your visit
- Name of your Internet service provider
- Third party websites you linked to from our Services
- Pages or information you viewed on our Services
We use this information to analyze trends, administer and improve our Services, and monitor traffic and usage patterns for information security purposes and to help make our Services more useful.
Cookies and Web Beacons
A “cookie” is a small text file that may be transferred to your computer’s hard drive in order to personalize our services for you and to collect aggregate, non-personal information regarding usage of our Services by all of our users. Each computer is assigned a different cookie that contains a random, unique number. The cookie does not contain personally identifiable information. Our Services uses two different types of cookies: a “session” cookie, which is required to track a user session, for example, and which expires shortly after the session ends), and a “persistent” cookie, used to track unique visits to the Portal (defined below), as well as how the user arrived at the Portal (for example, through an email link or from a referral link), and the type of user (patient, provider, etc.). So that users are not counted twice, this cookie can “persist” anywhere from six months to two years.
Your browser software can be set to warn you of cookies or reject all cookies. Most browsers offer instructions on how to reset the browser to reject cookies in the “Help” section of the toolbar. If you reject our cookie, this may disable some of the functionality of our Services and you may not be able to use certain services.
Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. For example, if you personalize a web page, or navigate within a website, a cookie helps the website to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of delivering relevant content and eases website navigation by providing and saving your preferences and login information as well as providing personalized functionality.
Since sponsors or partners of the website may use their own cookies when you click on a hypertext link to their website or service, you should carefully review the privacy policy of other websites to which you link from our Services.
A “web beacon,” “clear GIF,” “web bug,” or “pixel tag” is a tiny graphic file with a unique identifier that is similar in function to a cookie, but would allow us to count the number of users that have visited certain pages or screens of our websites, and to help determine the effectiveness of promotional or advertising campaigns. When used in HTML-formatted email messages, web beacons can tell the sender whether and when the email has been opened. In contrast to cookies, which may be stored on your computer’s hard drive, web beacons are typically embedded invisibly on pages or screens.
We reserve the right to share aggregated site statistics monitored by cookies and web beacons with our affiliates and partner companies.
User Communications
Email communications that you send to us via the email links on our Services may be shared with a customer service representative, employee, medical expert or agent that is most able to address your inquiry. We make every effort to respond in a timely fashion once communications are received. Once we have responded to your communication, it is discarded or archived, depending on the nature of the inquiry.
The email functionality on our Services does not provide a completely secure and confidential means of communication. It is possible that your email communication may be accessed or viewed by another Internet user while in transit to us. If you wish to keep your communication private, do not use our email.
Opt-Out
We may send certain messages, including electronic newsletters, notification of account statuses, and marketing communications on a periodic basis. If you wish to be removed from such messages, you may request to discontinue future ones. All such material will have information as to how to opt-out of receiving it, although certain messages (such as a secure message sent by a doctor or an account status update), may be required and will not have opt-out capabilities.
Policy Changes
We reserves the right to change the terms of this Privacy Policy at any time by posting those changes in revisions to this Privacy Policy, so that you are always aware of our processes related to collection, use and disclosure of information. We urge you to check here for any updates to this Privacy Policy from time to time.
Information Security
No website can guarantee security, but we maintain appropriate physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information collected via our Services in compliance with applicable law. Please see the Terms of Use available via the Website homepage (“Terms”) for more specific information about information security and your responsibilities.
Third Party Advertising
We do not allow third party advertising companies to serve ads when you access or use our Services.
What if I have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy?
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or the information practices of our Services, please contact us at info@careunited.com.
Additional Privacy Policies for Portal
As a service to its customers, we may also provide Portals to offer some customers secure, private access to their own records at our facilities, as well as certain internet-based services which may include, among other things, assistance in finding a doctor, assistance in scheduling appointments, the ability to register for classes and pre-register for procedures, making payment for medical services rendered, and health and patient education materials (“Portal”). If you use any of our Services that include a Portal, the following additional privacy terms and protections apply.
Protected Health Information and Personally Identifiable Information
If you are one of our patients, your personal information in our possession is protected health information (“PHI”) protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended (“HIPAA”), and the applicable provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. In addition to this Privacy Policy, the HIPAA Notices of Privacy Practices of those Provider facilities apply to your PHI.
Our Services may include pages that give you the opportunity to provide us with personal identifying information (“PII”) about yourself. If you choose not to provide this information, it may limit your ability to use certain functions of the site and/or request certain services or information. The Portal can provide you with access to some of your medical records. When you seek access to those records on the Portal, we need to confirm it is you so we ask you for information such as your name and email or physical address and other information such as your date of birth (which we may also use to make sure you are eligible to use the Portal in accordance with the Terms) and the answers to “secret questions” to which only you know the answers. This information may be used to help administer your user account and in managing your account. We may need to ask you for the information again when you sign in from a new device.
HIPAA Policies
In collecting your PII, our Services may also collect PHI. Just as we strive to protect your PII we are committed to protecting your PHI. If there is a breach of your PHI, we are required by law to notify you. Your PHI will remain confidential, and will only be disclosed to you or your personal representative, unless otherwise required by state or federal law. In all circumstances, unless otherwise required by law, we will obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing your PHI. This protection extends to PHI that is oral, written, or electronic.
How Else May Your Information Be Used And Disclosed?
In addition to the uses and disclosures of information outlined above, your information may also be used and disclosed as follows:
- If another individual is managing your account on your behalf (for example, a mother managing the account of her son), as authorized by you or as a personal representative under applicable law, that person can view all of your information in the Portal.
- We may use your information to send you surveys.
- Your healthcare providers may have access to your information for scheduling and healthcare services.
- We may use your information to respond to and fulfill your orders and requests.
- We may send you appointment reminders through messages or other alerts on the Portal.
- We may share information with marketing, treatment or health care operations support partners, who are also required to protect the confidentiality of your information, that will enable them to send you targeted messages or serve you targeted advertising, which will occur with your authorization or otherwise in compliance with HIPAA and other applicable laws.
- We may assign the information we have about you, including PII, in the event that all or part of our assets are sold or acquired by another party, including all or substantially all of our websites, or in the event of a merger for the same.
- We may use or disclose your information as required or allowed by applicable law.
Third Party Websites and Payments
If you use the Portal to link to another third party website, you may decide to disclose personal information at that website. Please be aware that in contacting that third party website, or in providing information on that website, that third party may obtain personal information about you. This Privacy Policy does not apply when you leave the Portal and go to a third party website from the Portal. We encourage you to be aware when you leave the Portal and to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information.
Any payments you may make for services you have found on the website are made exclusively through an affiliated third party website the separate privacy policy of which applies, and not through the Portal. We are not responsible for any fees, charges, or actions provided by such a third party website.
What can I do to protect my Privacy?
In order to protect your privacy, you should:
- Never share your username or password.
- Always sign out when you are finished using the Portal.
- Use only secure web browsers.
- Employ common anti-virus and anti-malware tools on your system to keep it safe.
- Use a strong password with a combination of letters and numbers.
- Change your password often.
- Notify us immediately if you feel your login and/or password have been compromised at info@careunitedresearch.com.
Please note that if you share your Portal username and password with another person, this will allow that person to see your confidential medical record information. We have no responsibility concerning any breach of your confidential medical record information due to your sharing or losing your user name or password.
Children May Not Use the Portal
We will never ask for or knowingly collect information from children, if you are a child under the age of 18, you are not permitted to use this service and should immediately exit our Services or get an adult. Consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, we will not knowingly collect any information from children under the age of 18. Parents of un-emancipated minors may set up accounts for themselves to access their children’s medical records only as permitted pursuant to the Terms governing the Portal. If you think that we have collected personal information from a child under the age of 18 through this Portal, please contact us at info@careunited.com and we will dispose of the information.
What if I am accessing this Portal from outside of the United States?
If you are visiting our Portal from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored or processed in the United States, where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country, but please be assured that we take steps to protect your privacy. By using our Portal, you understand that your information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it as described in this Privacy Policy.
If collected, we will take reasonable measures to protect the confidentiality of Social Security numbers and limit access to those with a need for such information. We prohibit the unlawful disclosure of Social Security numbers.
We treat the data of everyone who comes to our Services in accordance with this Privacy Policy, whatever their Do Not Track setting.