Privacy & Content Policy of the PAMF.org Website
The Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF), a Sutter Health affiliate, is committed to providing you with quality health care and fostering a relationship built on trust. This trust is built, in part, on our commitment to respect the privacy and confidentiality of your medical information.
PAMF has put into place detailed policies and procedures regarding access to all health records by our staff and employees. We have also carefully outlined the circumstances under which your medical information may be released to parties outside the organization in compliance with state and federal laws.
We comply fully with the privacy provisions of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). You can review our Notice of Health Information Privacy Practices here.
- Web Site Visitor Data
- Web Logs
- Internet Cookies
- Collecting and Using Personal Information
- Messages
- Policy Concerning Links to Outside Web Sites
- Healthwise Knowledgebase
- Funding
- Revisions to the Privacy Policy
- Questions, Concerns and Contact Information
Web Site Visitor Data
Visitor Tracking Software
PAMF keeps track of visits to our Web site via an automatic monitoring program that tells us, among other things, how many visits are made to the site; the time of day and date of those visits; and which areas of the Web site individuals visited. The monitoring program does not provide us with any personal information about a visitor. We cannot discern your name or physical address or other personal information about you. This information is used to evaluate the effectiveness of our site. It helps us answer questions such as: Are we providing information on our Web site that is useful to patients and other visitors? What information is most useful? How have we communicated to individuals that our Web site exists?
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Web Logs
The visitor tracking software gathers this information from standard Web logs that store this information on servers at Sutter Health. These logs may contain the Internet domain from which you access the site; the date and time you visited our site; the areas of our site that you viewed; your computer's IP address that is automatically assigned when you log onto the Internet; the type of browser and operating system you use; and the address of the Web site you linked from, if any.
All Web logs are stored securely and may only be accessed by PAMF employees or designees on a professional need-to-know basis for a specific purpose. PAMF uses Web log information to help us design our Web site; identify popular features; resolve user, hardware and software problems; and make the site more useful to patients and other visitors.
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Internet Cookies
PAMF may place Internet "cookies" on the computer hard drives of visitors to our Web site. Cookies help us obtain information about your use of our Web site; they do not contain information about you or your health history. PAMF uses two types of cookies: "session" cookies and "persistent" cookies.
A session cookie is temporary and expires after you end a session and close a Web browser. We may use session cookies to help customize visitors' experiences on our site, maintain a signed-on status while exploring the site and track which Web pages visitors view on our site.
On the other hand, persistent cookies remain on your hard drive. For instance, we use a persistent cookie when we ask you to agree to the use of the Multum Drug Guide so that when you return to the guide, you do not need to go through the agreement page again. Persistent cookies will not contain any personal information about you.
You may not be able to use or view some features of PAMF's Web site if you decline or deactivate Internet cookies. For instructions on how to remove cookies from your hard drive, go to your browser's Web site for detailed instructions. In addition, further information regarding cookies may be available from your Internet service provider.
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Collecting and Using Personal Information
PAMF does collect identifiable information about individuals who visit our Web sites in the following ways:
E-mails
PAMF uses a third-party vendor to manage and send e-mail newsletters to our patients and others who have requested to be put on our distribution lists. PAMF stores these e-mail addresses on their server. However, this address is never used for any other purpose than to communicate with you. We also do not link your e-mail address to any other personal health information you've given us. When you register, change your preferences or receive a newsletter, you will be redirected to their server. PAMF never shares any information, other than your e-mail address, with the vendor, which is not allowed to share your e-mail address with anyone else.
All newsletters offered by PAMF are by voluntary subscription only. You may cancel your subscription to a newsletter at anytime by clicking on the "unsubscribe" link found on the newsletter or other e-mail that you receive.
Links within newsletters are coded to track statistical data about the use of our e-mails, such as how many people have opened our newsletter. This tracking provides us with information on the usefulness of our communications.
Evaluation and Research
PAMF occasionally asks users to complete surveys about their opinions and experience with a particular Web site or new features we have developed or conducted in conjunction with a research project. All surveys are conducted through secure servers (SSL) at Sutter Health. All data gathered from these surveys is also securely stored on internal Sutter Health servers.
While PAMF conducts most surveys anonymously, we may ask for demographic information such as age, gender and education. For certain research projects, a survey may ask specific information about a medical condition. Let's talk about the use of the term "research" in the context of this policy - HIPAA has very strict requirements related to "research" and we want to determine in what context we are using the term in this policy. Perhaps we'll need to find a different term.
At no time are you required or under any obligation to complete a survey. Any and all information shared in a survey is given at your discretion.
PAMF conducts surveys for research purposes or for quality improvement of our Web site and other services we offer. We sometimes ask for personal contact information to allow researchers to follow-up on answers you provided in the survey.
PAMF does not share any information gathered in surveys with any third parties, and access to data is only given to those PAMF employees directly involved with the purpose of that survey.
We do not link any information gathered in a survey to any other personal health records such as your medical health record. Data gathered through a survey may be stored for future research and evaluation by authorized PAMF employees.
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Messages
PAMF's Web sites contain forms for comments, questions and referrals to certain services. These forms make use of Cold Fusion technology to send e-mails to certain PAMF staff members who are able to address your needs. These forms should not, however, be used to transmit personal health information or to seek diagnosis for a personal condition. We are not able to respond via e-mail to such inquires.
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Policy Concerning Links to Outside Web Sites
PAMF's Web site has numerous links to outside Internet pages, which might have information on health topics of interest to you.
PAMF, however, does not sponsor or endorse any of these sites, nor does PAMF make any guarantee, warranty or representation regarding the accuracy of the information contained on the Web sites. In addition, PAMF has no control over the privacy or security practices of external Web sites. The user should read and understand the policies of all Web sites with respect to these practices. These links are provided for your general information and education only, and should NOT be relied upon for personal diagnosis or treatment. If you have questions, please contact your health care provider.
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Healthwise Knowledgebase
PAMF's Web site contains a health encyclopedia, Reuter's Health, and a drug reference guide containing health information and education material provided by Healthwise. You can learn more about the Healthwise Knowledgebase by reading our Use of Healthwise Knowledgebase.
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Funding
Our Web site is funded entirely by PAMF's operating income. Please visit the "About PAMF" section of our Web site to learn more about our status as a not-for-profit health care organization.
We do not accept outside funding for the creation or maintenance of our Web site, nor do we accept advertising income in exchange for promotion of any product or service via our Web site.
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Revisions to the Privacy Policy
As state and federal laws change, and as we add new features to our Web site, PAMF may periodically revise our Privacy Statement. If changes are made, the date (month, day and year) the Privacy Statement was last revised will be updated accordingly. Any revision of this statement will apply to all information we already have about you at the time of the change and any personal information that is gathered about you after this time.
We encourage you to regularly review the Privacy Policy to see if there have been changes made that affect the use of your personal information.
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Questions, Concerns and Contact Information
Please do not include any confidential communication, such as health information, in any e-mail to us. E-mail is not encrypted and may be accessed and viewed without your or our knowledge or permission while in transit to us through the Internet.
Questions, concerns or suggestions about the content of pamf.org can be directed to Webmaster@pamf.org.
Comments or questions will be routed to the appropriate individual within the organization.
You can also contact us via U.S. mail at:
Ed Bierman, MLIS, CUA
Director of Web Services
Sutter Health Peninsula Coastal Region
2350 W. El Camino Real, 1st Floor
Mountain View, CA 94040
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