We also understand that privacy is very important to you. This Privacy Statement (“Privacy Statement”) tells you how we protect and use any information we gather through this web site located at Understand.com. This website is operated by Wilmington Plastic Surgery. Wilmington Plastic Surgery and its affiliates (hereafter referred to as “US”) also operate other websites. This Privacy Statement may not apply to those other web sites. Please review the privacy statement posted on those other web sites when you visit them.
This Privacy Statement was last modified on May 6th, 2008. US reserves the right to change this Privacy Statement at any time and for any reason. We encourage you to look at this Privacy Statement each time you visit the site and especially before you provide any personally identifiable information.
By using this site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Statement. Please read our Terms of Use to understand the general rules about your use of this site. Except as written in any other disclaimers, policies, terms of use or other notices on this site, this Privacy Statement and the Terms of Use are the complete agreement between you and US with respect to your use of this site. You may be subject to additional terms that may apply when you access particular services or materials on certain areas of this site or by following links that take you away from this site.
INTRODUCTION
The information we receive, and how we use it, depends on what you do when visiting our site. We collect and use your non-personal information (information that is not identifiable to you personally) differently than your personal information.
WHAT IS NON-PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Each time you visit this site to read or download information, we may collect certain information about you from your computer. This information is collected from your computer’s web browser and may include information such as the following (“non-personal information”):
- the type of web browser software you use (for example, Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer)
- the name of the domain from which you access the Internet
- the Internet address of the web site from which you linked directly to our site
- the date and time you access our site
- the pages you have visited on our site
- personal information that has been de-identified
If you only read or download information on our site, we do not collect or learn your name, e-mail address, home address, or other personal information about you. We may place a text file called a cookie in the browser files of your computer when you visit. The cookie may be stored on your computer’s hard drive. The information that we collect using cookies is non-personal information. U.S. Government Information Bulletin (I-034) contains a good description of cookie technology at: http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/i-034.shtml. You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, but some parts of our site may not work properly for you if you do so. We will not allow third parties to place cookies on our site.
WHAT DOES Wilmingtonplasticsurgery.COM DO WITH NON-PERSONAL INFORMATION?
There are no restrictions to the way US can use or share non-personal information. We will use non-personal information to help us make our site more useful to visitors and for other business purposes. We may prepare reports and other materials using non-personal information. Since these reports and materials contain no personal information, we may share them with others.
All information that is not personal to you or someone else, such as questions, comments, ideas and suggestions (collectively “feedback”) shall be deemed to be non-confidential, and US shall be free to disclose and use the same, for any purpose and through any means, without any obligation whatsoever to you. By choosing to send a message to US, you acknowledge that all feedback will be considered to be non-confidential. US shall have no obligations of any kind with respect to such feedback, and shall be free to reproduce, use, disclose, exhibit, display, transform, commercialize, create derivative works and distribute the feedback to others without limitation. Further, US shall be free to use any ideas, inventions, concepts, know-how or techniques contained in such feedback for any purpose whatsoever, including, but not limited to, developing, manufacturing and marketing products incorporating such feedback.
WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?
In some places on this site you may have the chance to send us information about yourself. For example, our site may include a registration form, surveys or e-mail forms. Most of our services do not require any form of registration, allowing you to visit our site without telling us who you are. However, some services may require registration. When you register with us, you may need to complete certain fields (some are required and some are optional), as well as choose a user name and password. In these situations, if you choose to withhold any personal data requested by us, it may not be possible for you to gain access to certain parts of the site and for us to respond to your words.
The personal information that we collect if you fill out such forms or surveys, or when you ask us to personalize your visits to our site, may include, for example:
- your name
- address
- e-mail address
- other personal information
HOW DOES Wilmingtonplasticsurgery.COM USE PERSONAL INFORMATION?
US may use the personal information we collect to:
- respond to your requests
- contact you via e-mail, regular mail, telephone or otherwise
- provide you directly or by third party with information that we believe may be of interest to you
- develop records, including records of your personal information
- develop and improve programs, products, services and content
- enforce this Privacy Statement and our Terms of Use and other rules about your use of this site
- to protect US rights or property
- protect someone’s health, safety or welfare
- to comply with a law or regulation, court order or other legal process.
By submitting personal information (such as your name, address, e-mail address, or telephone number), you agree that we may keep a record of it and may use it in accordance with the above. We also may use your personal information to help us in our business, including but not limited to improving our site, marketing and/or product development.
SHARING PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH OTHERS
US may transfer your personal information to the subsidiaries, divisions or other entities under common ownership with US. You also agree that US may share your personal information with others who help us with these activities. These companies and/or individuals may not use or share your personal information with others except for the purpose of assisting us with our business activities pursuant to our request.
You agree that we may use your personal information to mail or email information to you about US and our products and services from us or a third party we contract with.
IS WILMINGTON PLASTIC SURGERY EVER REQUIRED TO SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES?
Except as otherwise written in this Privacy Statement, we will keep your personal information private except with third parties we contract with. We will not share it with anyone outside these third parties, unless the disclosure is necessary to:
- comply with a law or regulation, court order, subpoena or other legal process
- protect our rights or property
- enforce our Terms of Use or this Privacy Statement
- protect someone’s health or safety.
In addition, you are prohibited from posting or transmitting any unlawful, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, scandalous, inflammatory, pornographic or profane material or any material that could constitute or encourage conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any law. We will fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity of anyone posting any such information or materials.
WHAT ABOUT PRIVACY ON OTHER SITES?
This site may contain links to other web sites. We provide these links for your convenience, but we do not review, control or monitor the privacy practices of web sites operated by others. US is not responsible for the performance of these sites or for your business dealings with them. Your use of any other web sites is subject to the terms and conditions of those sites, including the privacy policies of those sites.
ARE THERE SPECIAL RULES ABOUT CHILDREN’S PRIVACY?
We care about protecting the online privacy of children. We will not intentionally collect any personal information (such as a child’s name or e-mail address) from children under the age of 13. If you think that we have collected personal information from a child under the age of 13, please contact us.
This site is not intentionally designed for or directed at children 13 years of age or younger without obtaining prior consent from a person with parental responsibility. It is our policy never to knowingly collect or maintain information about anyone under the age of 13 (such as a child’s name or e-mail address). Please contact us if you think we may have collected information from a child under the age of 13.
HIPPA PRIVACY NOTICE
Wilmington Plastic Surgery Specialists, P.A. has always been concerned about the privacy of our individual patients who obtain services from us. We are giving you this notice to help you understand how we may collect information about you, the type of information we may collect, and what information we may disclose about you. We may amend our privacy policy from time to time. As required by law, we will notify our current patients of our most recent privacy notice at least annually.
OUR PRIVACY PROMISE
While information is the cornerstone of our ability to provide superior service, our most important asset is our patients= trust. Keeping patient information secure, and using it only as our patients would want us to use it is a top priority for all of us at Wilmington Plastic Surgery Specialists. Here then is our promise to our individual patients:
- We will safeguard, according to strict standards of security and confidentiality, any information you share with us.
- We will limit the collection and use of your information to the minimum we require to deliver superior medical service to you.
- We will permit only authorized employees, who are trained in the proper handling of patient information, to have access to that information. Employees who violate our privacy policies will be subject to our normal disciplinary process.
- We will not reveal your information to any external organization unless we have previously informed you in disclosures or agreements, have been authorized by you, or are required by law.
- We will always maintain control over the confidentiality of your information.
- Whenever we hire other organizations to provide support services, we will require them to conform to our privacy standards and to allow us to audit them for compliance.
- We will not use or share – internally or externally- personally identifiable medical information for any purpose other than the necessary medical information for your treatment or care.
- We will attempt to keep patient files complete, up-to-date and accurate. We will tell you how and where to conveniently access your information (except when we are prohibited by law) and how to notify us about errors, which we will promptly correct.
CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT AND SHARE
We may collect nonpublic personal information about you from the following sources:
- Information we obtain from you. You provide our office with most of (if not all) the information needed to provide treatment and care. In some instances we may need to obtain data from family or next of kin.
- Information we obtain from third parties. The kind of information we gather depends on the type and extent of treatment or care you would need. We may request information from other physicians, hospitals, pharmacies and other healthcare/health related entities. We would share any information with those same entities when so requested or disclose information as described below.
- We will use and disclose your health information to conduct the business activities of this office. These activities include using a sign-in sheet at the registration desk where you will be asked to sign your name. We may also call you by name in the waiting room when we are ready to begin your treatment. We also will use your name in our computerized appointment reminder calls.
NON-AFFILIATED THIRD PARTIES WHO MAY HAVE ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
We may disclose information about you to third parties with your consent or at your direction.
We may also disclose certain information about you without your prior permission to non-affiliated third parties (i.e., doctors, hospitals or pharmacies that are not members of our practice) as permitted by law for purposes such as to:
- To provide quality of care and treatment on your behalf.
- To assure delivery of timely and efficient care and treatment.
- Comply with public policy.
- Protect the confidentiality or security of our records pertaining to you, our product or service.
- Assist us in responding to your inquiries or complaints.
- Comply with legal requirements.
HOW TO REVIEW AND CORRECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
If you ask us in writing to send personal information from your file to you, we will honor that request, except for certain documents related to claims and lawsuits.
If you believe any of our information about you is incorrect, please notify us in writing and we will investigate. We will correct any errors that we find. If we do not find any errors, you may file a statement with us to dispute the information in your file. We will send the correction or statement to anyone who received or will receive the original information. If you have any questions about the right of access to or correction of information in your file, please contact us at the address below. Please include a copy of some type of personal identification, such as your driver’s license.
WHERE TO SEND YOUR REQUEST
Jane Parent, Privacy Coordinator
Wilmington Plastic Surgery
1404 Commonwealth Drive Wilmington, NC 28403
