Saint Mary's Health Plans Privacy Statement

Thank you for visiting our Web site (hereinafter "Site"), and for reviewing this Privacy Statement.

www.saintmaryshealthplans.com is a product of, and is provided to you by, Saint Mary's Health Plans, a division of Saint Mary's Health Network.  Saint Mary's Health Plans may only use the information that you provide through this site for purposes permitted or required by law, and as described in this statement.

To address privacy concerns you may have while visiting our interactive, customized Site, this Privacy Statement describes how Saint Mary's Health Plans may use information that you provide.  If you do not wish Saint Mary's Health Plans to use information that you provide through this Site as described in this Privacy Statement, you should disconnect from this Site.

Saint Mary's Health Plans has developed a TERMS OF USE statement that describes your responsibilities when using this Site.  Please refer to this document for additional information.

Please note that this www.saintmaryshealthplans.com Web Site Privacy Statement applies only to how Saint Mary's Health Plans uses individually identifiable personal information that you provide when visiting this Site.  Saint Mary's Health Plans routinely gathers quantitative information on web site activity, including the number of users to the site and the pages visited.  No individually identifiable personal information is collected during this routine activity, and subsequently, Saint Mary's Health Plans reserves the right to use and share or disclose this information with others.

This www.saintmaryshealthplans.com Web Site Privacy Statement is distinct from Saint Mary's Health Plans Notice of Privacy Practices, which describes in detail how Saint Mary's Health Plans uses individually identifiable health information that we may receive both online and offline to provide services to you and to manage Saint Mary's Health Plan's payment obligations and health care operations.  Saint Mary's Health Plans publishes the Notice of Privacy Practices in accordance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule ("Privacy Rule," a federal regulation officially known as the "Standards for the Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information").  Together, the Saint Mary's Health Plans Web Site Privacy Statement and the Notice of Privacy Practices describe how HMSA uses your individually identifiable personal information and health information.

When you communicate with us via our Site, we collect personal information about you only if you provide it to us voluntarily.  "Online personal information" is any information or data you provide through this Site that is individually identifiable, such as a name, social security number, address and birth date.  "Online personal information" may or may not be individually identifiable health information that is also protected by the Privacy Rule.  Where online personal information also constitutes individually identifiable health information under the Privacy Rule, the provisions of this Privacy Rule also will govern Saint Mary's Health Plan's permitted uses and disclosures of the online personal information.

Portions of our Site may allow you to provide us with online personal information in order to deliver requested materials, products or services to you (such as a duplicate insurance card or a Guide to Benefits), respond to your questions, or enable you to update information (such as your address).  Any online personal information that you provide via our Site is used exclusively for the purpose stated on the web page where you submit your personal information.  Saint Mary's Health Plans does not sell, license, or disclose online personal information that you provide to us outside of Saint Mary's Health Plans, its agents and affiliated companies.

As permitted by the Privacy Rule, individually identifiable health information that you provide through this Site or that Saint Mary's Health Plans creates or receives about you may be used or disclosed by Saint Mary's Health Plans in connection with services provided to you by Saint Mary's Health Plans, and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law.  Under the Privacy Rule this information is called "protected health information."  Protected health information is individually identifiable health information, including demographic information, collected from you or created or received by a health care provider, a health plan, or a health care clearinghouse and relates to: (i) your past, present or future physical or mental health or condition; (ii) the provision of health care to you; or (iii) the past, present or future payment for the provision of health care to you.  We refer to protected health information and individually identifiable health information interchangeably in this Privacy Statement.

At Saint Mary's Health Plans, we are committed to protecting the privacy of your individually identifiable health information (including any online personal information that also constitutes individually identifiable health information) as follows:

1. Saint Mary's Health Plans does not sell, transfer, or disclose individually identifiable health information without your prior authorization, except when permitted or required by law.  As used in this www.saintmaryshealthplans.com Web Site Privacy Statement, "required by law" includes the permissive and mandatory requirements of state and federal regulations that govern the use and disclosure of individually identifiable information, such as the federal regulation known as the Privacy Rule.



2. Under the Privacy Rule, Saint Mary's Health Plans is permitted to disclose individually identifiable health information to our business associates who perform various functions or provide services on Saint Mary's Health Plan's behalf.  To perform these functions or to provide services, business associates will receive, create, maintain, use, or disclose protected health information, but only after we require the business associates to agree in writing to contract terms designed to safeguard your information.



3. Saint Mary's Health Plans is also permitted to use and disclose individually identifiable health information to support the services Saint Mary's Health Plans provides through this Site, and to support the business functions provided by Saint Mary's Health Plans.  These services and functions may include:



1. providing personalized educational health information to you,



2. tailoring your Saint Mary's Health Plans experience by compiling and displaying content and information that we think you might be interested in,



3. appropriately providing you information about our disease management programs,



4. responding to your questions, or



5. asking for your feedback on how effectively we are providing services.



4. Saint Mary's Health Plans will not provide any individually identifiable health information obtained through this Site to your employer.



5. Saint Mary's Health Plans may use or disclose individually identifiable health information obtained through this Site to assist our business associates or other covered entities in their treatment, payment, or health care operation activities.



6. Saint Mary's Health Plans may use your individually identifiable health information (including online personal information) to create aggregated anonymous information for the purposes of tailoring our Site to meet our customers' needs and interests.  Distribution and use of this aggregated, anonymous information will be restricted to staff, management, agents, and business associates of Saint Mary's Health Plans who need aggregated statistical information about our users as a group, as well as the patterns of their Site usage.
   
   
7. Saint Mary's Health Plans also may use your profile information on an aggregated basis to provide our editors with information that is useful in developing new features and content for the Site, and to provide our business associates, agents, or others permitted by law to receive aggregated information about our users and the usage patterns of the Site.
   
   
8. Saint Mary's Health Plans reserves the right to perform statistical analyses of user behavior on an aggregate basis in order to measure interest in, and use of the various areas of the Site, and to inform business associates, agents, or others permitted by law to receive such information.
   
   
9. Saint Mary's Health Plans may need to change this Privacy Statement from time to time in order to address new issues and to reflect changes on our Site.  Please refer back to this Privacy Statement regularly, because your use of the Site signifies that you agree to be bound by this Privacy Statement and the TERMS OF USE as amended from time to time.
   
   
10. In the unlikely event that Saint Mary's Health Plans is acquired, merges with another entity or sells portions of its assets, our databases (which may contain your protected health information and online personal information) will be among transferred assets.
    
    
11. The name "Saint Mary's Health Plans", "www.saintmaryshealthplans.com," are proprietary trademarks and service marks of Saint Mary's Health Plans.  The contents of the Site, including but not limited to text, graphics, images and software ("Content"), are protected by copyright under both United States and foreign laws, and Saint Mary's Health Plans retains all right, title and interest in and to the Content, all copies thereof, and all copyrights and other proprietary rights therein.  Upon acceptance of these conditions, Saint Mary's Health Plans authorizes you to view, download and print a small number of copies of the material on the Site solely for your personal, noncommercial use.  You may not modify, sell, assign, or transfer the Content or reproduce, display, publicly perform, distribute or otherwise use the Content in any way for any public or commercial purpose or otherwise, except as expressly permitted herein.  You may not reverse-engineer, disassemble or decompile, any software included in the Content.  Content is subject to change without notice at the editorial discretion of Saint Mary's Health Plans.
    
    
12. The Site contains links to third-party web sites.  These links are provided solely as a convenience to you and not as an endorsement or recommendation by Saint Mary's Health Plans of the content on such third-party web sites, or as an indication of any affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement of or by such third-party web sites.
    
    
13. These third-party sites may have their own privacy policies or no policy at all.  The Saint Mary's Health Plans Privacy Statement and the TERMS OF USE do not apply to such other sites.  Saint Mary's Health Plans has no control over the content displayed on such sites, nor over the measures, if any, that are taken by such sites to protect the privacy of user information.
    
    
14. Saint Mary's Health Plans is not responsible for the content of linked third-party sites, and does not make any representations regarding the privacy practices of, or the content or accuracy of materials on, such third-party web sites.  Your use of third-party web sites is subject to the terms of use for such sites.  If you decide to access third-party web sites that are linked to this Site, you do so at your own risk.
    
    
15. Although Saint Mary's Health Plans endeavors to warn users when they click on a link to a third-party website that they are leaving www.saintmaryshealthplans.com, we do not guarantee that you will receive such an alert.  It is your responsibility to determine when you have left this Site.
    
    
16. Although parents are free to seek information available on the Site concerning the health of their children, no person under 18 years old is permitted to use the Site.  Saint Mary's Health Plans does not direct this Site to children under the age of 18 years, or knowingly collect information from children under 18.  Adults should not assist minors in accessing the Site.  When users enter personal information on our Site, the user is representing to us that he/she is an adult, 18 years or older.  We would be pleased to work with parent and guardians to delete from our records personal information a child may improperly disclose.  Please contact us at webmaster@saintmarysreno.com.
    
    
17. Saint Mary's Health Plans Site uses Secure Socket Layer ("SSL") encryption technology to enhance data privacy and help prevent loss, misuse or alteration of the information under our control.  This encryption technology, however, does not absolutely guarantee or safeguard the total privacy of user information that has been voluntarily disclosed to the Site.