Privacy Policy
Last Updated April 3, 2006
Notification of Change
The Information We Collect
Opting Out
Your California Privacy Rights
Correct/Update Your Profile
Aggregate Information
Cookies
Security of Your Information
Tell-A-Friend, Ecards and Personal Fundraising Pages
Links to Other Web Sites
Information from Children
Transmission of Health-Related Data
Welcome to the Easterseals Online Network, the Web site of Easterseals, Inc. (Easterseals headquarters) and participating Easterseals affiliates across the country.
Because Easterseals values the privacy of constituents visiting the Easterseals Online Network, users of the Easterseals Online Network have the right to manage their own personal information.
You can contact Easterseals for more information related to the privacy of the information you provide online:
Mail: 141 W Jackson Blvd, Suite 1400A, Chicago, IL 60604
Phone: 312-726-6200
Online: Click here to contact Easterseals via email. Your request will be answered within 2-3 business days.
Notification of Change
Easterseals reserves the right to change this policy at any time. Easterseals privacy policy will be kept up-to-date and clearly posted on our Web site.
The Information We Collect
On many pages of the Easterseals Online Network -- in particular when donating online, completing an action alert, registering for a special event, purchasing a product, or completing various feedback forms -- visitors are asked to list name, address, and other personal contact information. Information collected is specifically and knowingly provided by site visitors and may include name, email address, format preference (HTML vs. text), address, telephone number, interests and other similar information. Collecting this information helps Easterseals to better provide site visitors with relevant and useful content.
Easterseals has partnered with Convio, Inc. to power the Web content, email and transaction processing capabilities to serve our constituents and fulfill our mission on the Internet. Convio, Inc. is an Internet software and services company that provides online electronic Constituent Relationship Management (eCRM) solutions for nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions. Convio will not disclose your name or other personally identifiable information (such as your e-mail address or phone number) to any party other than Easterseals.
Neither Easterseals nor Convio store sensitive information such as credit card numbers. When an online transaction is completed through the Easterseals Online Network, such as a charitable contribution, credit card information is used solely for the purpose of completing that specific transaction and is not retained in the Easterseals or Convio database.
Easterseals will not sell, share or exchange personal contact information collected from this Web site with other organizations. If a user has a previous relationship with Easterseals through another channel (i.e., mail, phone), Easterseals will occasionally rent or exchange those names and addresses with other organizations as a way of providing extra funds to help support services. If you do not want to participate in this program, please let us know.
Visitors to the Easterseals Online Network are not required to share any personally identifiable information. Users who do not wish to share personal information when visiting the Easterseals Online Network can still access the Network's Web pages and the valuable information provided.
Opting Out
Easterseals provides site visitors with the opportunity to opt-out of receiving our online and offline communications.
If you would like to opt-out of receiving email communications please update your user profile. Email unsubscribe requests are processed immediately.
To discontinue the receipt of postal mail, please contact Easterseals. Shortly, Easterseals will be adding the capability to remove your name from our postal mailing list online. You'll need to register as user of the Easterseals Online Network. Please note: there is a 8-12 week lapse period due to the fact that a subsequent mailing may already be in production. If you do receive another mailing, please disregard it.
Your California Privacy Rights
To review a special notice for California residents only per California Privacy Law (SB27): Exchanging, Renting, Reselling Personal Information, please visit the "Your California Privacy Rights" section.
Correct/Update Your Profile
Easterseals offers the option to change and modify personally identifiable information. Upon your request, Easterseals will remove personally identifying information retained in organizational databases. If you are a registered user of this site, you can access your Easterseals profile and update your contact information and user preferences by clicking here.
Easterseals reserves the right to maintain information on users who have had their access to the Easterseals Online Network blocked.
Aggregate Information
Demographic and profile data (i.e., age, gender, browser usage) is also collected via the Easterseals Online Network. Easterseals uses such data to improve marketing and promotional efforts, statistically analyze site usage, improve content and product offerings and to customize site content, layout, and services. Additionally, this data may be shared with third parties on an aggregated basis. Easterseals does not share personally identifying information with third parties, except to a court or governmental agency if required by law and as stated above in the section titled "The Information We Collect."
Cookies
A cookie is a small text file a Web site places on a site visitor's computer hard drive. Its purpose is to let the site know when a user visits and to perform certain functions such as saving passwords and personal preferences.
Cookies help evaluate visitors' use of a Web site, such as what viewers want to see and what they never read. This information allows Easterseals to better focus online information and to concentrate on information people are using.
Your browser is probably set to accept cookies. If you would like to turn this feature off, you will need to change the settings of your Internet browser.
Security of Your Information
All credit card and personal profile information provided to Easterseals or our Internet software partner, Convio, Inc., is transmitted using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption using Verisign as a payment gateway. SSL is a proven coding system that allows a browser to automatically encrypt, or scramble, data before it is sent.
Easterseals also protects account information by placing it on a secure portion of the Easterseals Online Network that is only accessible by certain qualified employees of Easterseals. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. Easterseals strives to protect your information, however cannot ensure or warrant the security of such information.
Tell-A-Friend, Ecards and Personal Fundraising Pages
If you elect to use the referral service to inform a friend about a page on the Easterseals Online Network, send an ecard, or raise funds for Easterseals by soliciting friends and family, you will be asked for the friend's name and email address. Easterseals will automatically send the friend a one-time email inviting them to visit the site. Easterseals stores this information to send this one-time email only. In addition, the contact information will be maintained solely for the future convenience of the individual who provided the information - to send subsequent ecards or fundraising reminders/updates.
Links to Other Web Sites
Easterseals has links to other Web sites outside of the Easterseals Online Network. Easterseals is not responsible for the content of any linked Web site, or any link contained in a linked Web site, or any changes or updates to such Web sites. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Easterseals of that Web site.
In addition, please be aware that Easterseals is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other Web sites. Easterseals encourages you to read the privacy statements of each and every Web site that requests personal information from you.
Information from Children
Easterseals does not seek to collect personal information about children through the Easterseals Online Network. If a child submits information through any part of the Network, and Easterseals is aware that the user submitting the information is a child, the information is not used for any purpose, nor is it disclosed to third parties. Easterseals will comply with all regulations set forward by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). To learn more about COPPA, visit the Federal Trade Commission.
Transmission of Health-Related Data
Easterseals understands the sensitivity of collecting and using health-related data. Personally identifiable health-related data collected on the Easterseals Online Network will not be shared with entities other than Easterseals, Inc., and Easterseals affiliates. Any transfer of personally identifiable health-related data between Easterseals organizations will take place in a secure environment with access allowed only to certain qualified employees of Easterseals. Easterseals will comply with all regulations set forward by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). To learn more about HIPAA, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.
NOTICE OF EASTERSEALS SOUTH FLORIDA PRIVACY PRACTICES
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO OBTAIN A PAPER COPY OF THIS NOTICE UPON REQUEST.
WHO WILL FOLLOW THIS NOTICE
This notice describes Easterseals South Florida ("Easterseals") practices and that of (a) any health care professional authorized to enter information into our medical record, (b) volunteers we allow to help you while you are receiving Easterseals services, and (c) all Easterseals employees and staff.
PATIENT HEALTH INFORMATION
Under federal law, your patient health information is protected and confidential. Patient health information includes information about your symptoms, test results, diagnosis, treatment, and related medical information. Your health information also includes payment, billing and insurance information.
USE AND DISCLOSURE OF HEALTH INFORMATION
Easterseals may use your health information for purposes of providing you treatment, obtaining payment for the services you receive and for health care operations, including administrative purposes and evaluation of the quality of care that you receive. Unless otherwise indicated, your health information may be used or disclosed only after Easterseals has obtained your written consent or authorization. Easterseals has established a policy to guard against unnecessary disclosure of your health information.
THE FOLLOWING IS A SUMMARY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH AND PURPOSES FOR WHICH YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AFTER YOU HAVE PROVIDED YOUR WRITTEN CONSENT:
- To Provide Treatment. Easterseals will use and disclose your health information to provide you with medical treatment or services. For example, therapist, nurses and other members of your service team will record information in your record and use it to determine the most appropriate course of care. We may also disclose the information to other health care providers who are participating in your treatment, including your primary physician, to pharmacists who are filling your prescriptions, and to family members who are helping with your care.
- To Obtain Payment. Easterseals will use and disclose your health information for payment purposes. For example, we may need to obtain authorization from your support coordinator or insurance company before providing certain types of treatment. We will submit bills and maintain records of payments from your health plan.
- To Conduct Health Care Operations. Easterseals will use and disclose your health information to conduct our standard internal operations, including proper administration of records, evaluation of the quality of treatment, and to assess the care and outcomes of your case and others like it.
- Health care operations include such activities as:
- Quality assessment and improvement activities.
- Activities designed to improve health or reduce health care costs.
- Protocol development, case management and care coordination.
- Contacting health care providers and consumer/patients with information about treatment alternatives and other related functions that do not include treatment.
- Professional review and performance evaluation.
- Training programs including those in which students, trainees or practitioners in health care learn under supervision.
- Training of non-health care professionals.
- Accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing activities.
- Review and auditing, including compliance reviews, medical reviews, legal services and compliance programs.
- Business planning and development including cost management and planning related analyses and formulary development.
- Business management and general administrative activities of the agency.
For example, Easterseals may use your health information to evaluate its staff performance, combine your health information with other Easterseals consumer/patients in evaluating how to more effectively serve all Easterseals consumer/patients, or disclose your health information to Easterseals staff and contracted personnel for training purposes. Also, Easterseals may disclose certain information about you including your name and your general health status.
- Appointment Reminders. We may use and disclose health information to contact you with a reminder regarding a visit with our agency.
- Treatment Alternatives. We may use and disclose health information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives.
- For Fundraising Activities. Easterseals may use information about you including your name, address, phone number and the dates you received services at Easterseals in order to contact you or your family to raise money for Easterseals (unless you tell us you do not want to be contacted). Easterseals may also release this information to a related Easterseals foundation.
FEDERAL PRIVACY RULES ALLOW EASTERSEALS TO USE OR DISCLOSE YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT OR AUTHORIZATION FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING:
- Required by Law. Easterseals will disclose your health information when it is required to do so by Federal, State or local law.
- Risks to Public Health. Easterseals may disclose your health information for public activities and purposes in order to:
- Prevent or control disease, injury or disability, report disease, injury, vital events such as birth or death, and the conduct of public health surveillance, investigations and interventions.
- To report adverse events, product defects, to track products or enable product recalls, repairs and replacements and to conduct post-marketing surveillance and compliance with requirements of the Food and Drug Administration.
- To notify a person who has been exposed to a communicable disease or who may be at risk of contracting or spreading a disease.
- To an employer about an individual who is a member of the workforce as legally required.
- To Report Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence. Easterseals is allowed to notify government authorities if the agency believes a consumer/patient is the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. Easterseals will make this disclosure only when specifically required or authorized by law.
- Health Oversight Activities. Easterseals may disclose your health information to a health oversight agency for activities including audits, civil, administrative or criminal investigations, inspections, licensure or disciplinary action. Easterseals, however, may not disclose your health information if you are the subject of an investigation and your health information is not directly related to your receipt of health care or public benefits.
- In Connection with Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. Easterseals may disclose your health information in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding in response to an order of a court or administrative tribunal as expressly authorized by such order or in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process.
- For Law Enforcement Purposes. Easterseals may disclose your health information to a law enforcement official for law enforcement purposes as follows:
- As required by law for reporting of certain types of wounds or other physical injuries pursuant to the court order, warrant, subpoena or summons or similar process.
- For the purpose of identifying or locating a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person.
- Under certain limited circumstances, when you are the victim of a crime.
- In an emergency in order to report a crime.
- Deaths. Easterseals may report information regarding deaths to coroners, medical examiners, funeral directors and organ donation agencies.
- Research. Easterseals may, under very select circumstances, use your health information for research. Before Easterseals discloses any of your health information for such research purposes, the project will be subject to an extensive approval process. Easterseals will ask your permission if any researcher will be granted access to your individually identifiable health information.
- Serious Threat to Health or Safety. Easterseals may, consistent with applicable law and ethical standards of conduct, disclose your health information if the agency, in good faith, believes that such disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety or to the health and safety of the public.
- Military and Veterans. If you are a member of the Armed Forces, Easterseals may release health information about you as required by military command authorities. Easterseals may also release health information about foreign military personnel to the appropriate foreign military authority.
- National Security and Intelligence Activities. Easterseals may release health information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law.
- Protective Services for the President and Others. Easterseals may disclose health information about you to authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President, other authorized persons or foreign heads of state or conduct special investigations.
- Worker’s Compensation. Easterseals may release your health information for worker’s compensation or similar programs providing benefits for work related injuries or illnesses.
AUTHORIZATION TO USE OR DISCLOSE HEALTH INFORMATION
Other than as stated above, Easterseals will not disclose your health information other than with your written authorization. If you or your representative authorizes Easterseals to use or disclose your health information, you may revoke that authorization in writing at any time. If you revoke your permission, Easterseals will no longer use or disclose health information about you for the reasons covered by your written authorization. You understand that Easterseals is unable to take back any disclosures that have already been made with your authorization, and that Easterseals is required by law to retain our records of the services provided to you.
YOUR RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION
You have the following rights regarding your health information that Easterseals maintains:
- Right to Request Restrictions. You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the health information Easterseals uses or discloses about you for treatment, payment or health care operations, and to request a limit on the health information Easterseals discloses about you to someone who is involved in your care or payment, such as a family member or friend. Easterseals is not required to agree to your request. If Easterseals does agree, however, the agency will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide you with emergency or other vital treatment. To request restrictions, you must tell Easterseals (1) what information you want to limit; (2) whether you want to limit our use, disclosure, or both; and (3) to whom you want the limits to apply, for example, disclosure to your spouse. To request restrictions, you must submit your request in writing to our Privacy Officer at the address shown below.
- Right to Receive Confidential Communications. You have the right to request, in writing, that Easterseals communicate with you in a certain way. For example, you may ask that Easterseals only conduct communications pertaining to your health information with you privately with no other family members present. Easterseals will not require that you provide any reasons for your request and will attempt to honor your reasonable requests for confidential communications.
- Right to Inspect and Obtain a Copy your Health Information. You have the right to inspect and receive a copy of health information about you. Usually, this includes medical and billing records, but does not include psychotherapy notes or information compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or for use in a civil, criminal or administrative action or proceeding. To inspect and copy health information, you must submit your request in writing. If you request a copy of your health information, Easterseals may charge a reasonable fee for copying and assembling costs associated with your request.
- Right to Amend Health Care Information. If you or your representative believes that your health information records are incorrect or incomplete, you may request that Easterseals amend the records. That request may be made as long as the information is maintained by Easterseals. A request for an amendment of records must be made in writing. Easterseals may deny the request if it is not in writing or does not include a reason for the amendment. The request also may be denied if your health information records were not created by Easterseals, if the records you are requesting are not part of Easterseal’s records, if the health information you wish to amend is not part of the health information you or your representative are permitted to inspect and copy, or if, in the opinion of Easterseals, the records containing your health information are accurate and complete.
- Right to an Accounting. You or your representative have the right to request an accounting of disclosures of your health information made by Easterseals. This is a list of the disclosures Easterseals made of health information about you but does not include disclosures (a) to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations; (b) made to you; (c) to other person’s involved in your care; (d) for national security or intelligence purposes; or (e) law enforcement officials as provided by law. The request for an accounting must be made in writing. The request should specify the time period for the accounting and must be after April 14, 2003. Accounting requests may not be made for periods of time in excess of six years. Easterseals would provide the first accounting you request during any 12-month period without charge. Subsequent accounting requests may be subject to a reasonable cost-based fee. Easterseals will notify you of the costs involved before completing your request, so that you will have the chance to withdraw or modify your request before any costs are incurred.
- Right to a Paper Copy of this Notice. No later than the date of the first service delivery on or after April 14, 2003, a copy of this notice shall be provided to you. You or your representative have a right to a separate paper copy of this Notice at any time even if you or your representative have received this Notice previously. The Easterseals consumer/patient or a representative may also obtain a copy of the current version of Easterseal’s Notice of Privacy Practices at its website: http://www.southflorida.easterseals.com/
OUR LEGAL DUTY
Easterseals is required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information and to provide to you and your representative this Notice of its duties and privacy practices. Easterseals is required to abide by terms of this Notice as may be amended from time to time. Easterseals reserves the right to change the terms of its Notice and to make the new Notice provisions effective for all health information that it maintains. If Easterseals changes its Notice, Easterseals will post a revised copy of the current notice at each of the Easterseals facilities reflecting its effective date.
COMPLAINTS
You or your personal representative have the right to express complaints to Easterseals and to the Secretary of Health and Human Services if you or your representative believe that your privacy rights have been violated. Any complaints to Easterseals should be made in writing to the Privacy Officer or designee. Easterseals encourages you to express any concerns you may have regarding the privacy of your information. You will not be retaliated against in any way for filing a complaint.
CONTACT PERSON
Easterseal’s contact person for all issues regarding specific requests, patient privacy and your rights under the Federal privacy standards is:
Privacy Officer or Designee
Easterseals South Florida
1475 NW 14th Avenue
Miami, Fl 33125
(305) 325-0470
EFFECTIVE DATE
This Notice is effective April 14, 2003.
If you have any questions regarding this notice, please contact:
Privacy Officer or Designee at Easterseals South Florida
1475 NW 14th Avenue Miami, Fl 33125
Telephone: (305) 325-0470