IMPORTANT MEDICAL NOTICE

If this is a medical emergency, please immediately call Emergency Personnel (911) to obtain prompt medical attention. This website is not designed to assist with medical emergencies.

As a health care provider, CHI St. Vincent is strongly committed to protecting the right of privacy for our patients and the users of this website. We understand individuals have rights to privacy and concerns about the security and integrity of data. Therefore, we do not share any personally identifiable information submitted through the forms or e-mail links on this site with any entity outside CHI St. Vincent unless you authorize us to do so or we are required to do so by law. We will only use and disclose the information you provide to us as stated in our Website Privacy Policy Statement as provided later in this section. In addition, if you provide health information that identifies who you are and may also include your name or Social Security number, we will only use and disclose this information as stated in the Notice of Privacy Practices which follows.

Notice of Privacy Practices

CHI St. Vincent’s Notice of Privacy Practices ("NPP") is a separate document that governs how medical information about you may be used and disclosed by CHI St. Vincent, as well as our obligations to maintain its confidentiality. The health system is operated through regional organizations that serve a defined market area or offering a distinct line of services:

Hot Springs - link to document

Spanish Privacy Practices - link to document

Website Privacy Policy Statement

Use and disclosure of health information includes using the information to provide treatment to the individual, to make payments for such treatment and to conduct ongoing quality improvement activities. Our use and disclosure of an individual's personal information (including protected health information) is limited as required by federal and state law. We do not sell or rent personal information about visitors to this site or customers who use the site.

This website has security measures in place to help protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of information under our control. These measures include encryption of data using the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) system, and using a secured messaging service when we send you personal information electronically. Despite these measures, the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to or from us via this site by Internet or e-mail cannot be guaranteed.

Revisions to the Website Privacy Policy

We may revise this Website Privacy Policy from time to time as we add new features, or as laws change that may affect our services. If we make material changes to our Privacy Policy, we will post notice of this on our website. Any revised Privacy Policy will apply both to information we already have about you at the time of the change, and any personal information created or received after the change takes effect. The bottom of this page shows the date it was last updated. We encourage you to periodically reread this Privacy Policy, to see if there have been any changes to our policies that may affect you.

Website Visitor Data

Anonymous Access. You can access our website home page and browse our site without disclosing your personal data.

Services and Links. Our website may enable you to communicate with other visitors or to post information accessed by others. When you do so, other visitors may collect your data. CHI St. Vincent routinely gathers data on website activity, such as how many people visit the site, the pages they visit, where they come from, how long they stay on the site, etc. The data is collected on an aggregate, anonymous basis, which means that no personally identifiable information is associated with the data. This data helps us improve site content and overall usage. The information is not shared with other organizations for their independent use.

Collecting and Using Personal Information. Except as disclosed in this Website Privacy Policy Statement, CHI St. Vincent does not collect any identifiable information about visitors to this site or our customers who use this site. The policies, sources and uses of information are outlined in the sections that follow:

Web Log Files. We collect and log the IP address of each visitor to gather aggregate data on visitors to our site and how our site is being used. We do not associate IP addresses with any personally identifiable information. These logs may contain: the Internet domain from which you access the site (such as aol.com; abc.org; etc.); the IP address which is automatically assigned to your computer when you get on the Internet (a static IP address may be identifiable as being connected to you, while a dynamic address is usually not identifiable); the type of browser and operating system you use; the date and time you visited the site; the pages you viewed on the site; and, the address of the website you linked from, if any. If you sign on to this website to use its secured features, our web logs will also contain an individual identifier and show the services that you have accessed.

All web logs are stored securely, and may only be accessed by CHI St. Vincent co-workers or designees on a need-to-know basis for a specific purpose. CHI St. Vincent uses web log information to: help us design our website; identify popular features; resolve user, hardware and software problems; and to make the site more useful to visitors.

Internet Cookies. Cookies may be sent to your computer to collect general information about how our site is viewed. We do not use cookies to store personal data, nor do we link non-personal information stored in cookies with personal data about specific individuals. We may place Internet cookies on the computer hard drives of visitors to the CHI St. Vincent OneCare portion of this website. Information we obtain from cookies helps us to customize our site to be more helpful and efficient for our visitors. The cookie consists of a unique identifier that does not contain information about you or your health history. We use two types of cookies: session cookies and persistent cookies.

A session cookie is temporary and expires after you end a session and close your web browser. We use session cookies to tailor your experience on our website, maintain your signed-on status as you navigate through our features.

We also use persistent cookies that remain on your hard drive after you've exited from our website. There are several reasons including when you give us permission to remember a feature about you when asked by the website, such as your geographic location. In that case, we place a persistent cookie on your hard drive so that the next time you visit us, we won't have to ask you for that information again. If you've given us permission to e-mail you, we may place a persistent cookie on your hard drive that will let us know when you come back to visit our site. Persistent cookies will not contain any personal information about you.

Evaluation and Research. We will periodically ask users to complete surveys asking about their experiences with features of the website. Our surveys ask visitors for demographic information such as age, gender and education, but will not request that users provide specific information about any medical condition. We use survey information for research and quality improvement purposes, including helping CHI St. Vincent to improve information and services offered through the website. In addition, users giving feedback may be individually contacted for follow-up due to concerns raised during the course of such evaluation. Demographic information and web log data may be stored for future research and evaluation.

Messages and Transactions. Comments or questions sent to us using e-mail or secure messaging forms will be shared with CHI St. Vincent health care professionals and co-workers who are most able to address your concerns. We will archive your messages once we have made our best effort to provide you with a complete and satisfactory response.

Some of our services such as CHI St. Vincent OneCare’s automated appointment selection and prescription refill services interact directly with other CHI St. Vincent data systems. Data about your transaction may be stored in these systems and made available to people who test and support these systems.

When you use a service on the secure section of this website to interact directly with CHI St. Vincent health care professionals, some information you provide may be documented in your medical record and made available for use to guide your treatment as a patient.

Data Integrity and Correction. Requests to view and correct personal information from this website that is documented in your medical record may be submitted using the contact information in the questions, complaints and contacts section below.

Disclosures. We may disclose personal information to any person performing audit, legal, operational or other services for us. We will use information which does not identify the individual for these activities whenever feasible. Information disclosed to vendors or contractors for operational purposes may not be re-disclosed to others by such a vendor or contractor.

CHI St. Vincent OneCare’s automated appointment selection and prescription refill services interact directly with other CHI St. Vincent data systems. Data about your transaction may be stored in these systems and made available to people who test and support these systems.

When you use a service on the secure section of this website to interact directly with CHI St. Vincent health care professionals, some information you provide may be documented in your medical record and made available for use to guide your treatment as a patient.

Data Integrity and Correction

Requests to view and correct personal information from this website that is documented in your medical record may be submitted using the contact information in the questions, complaints and contacts section below.

Questions, Complaints and Contacts. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, our policies and practices concerning this site, your rights under this statement and your dealings with this website, please contact CHI St. Vincent.