To communicate the importance of personal privacy and confidentiality, HMI participates in programs committed to ensuring privacy (see "Industry Groups"), has adopted use and disclosure policies (see "Use and Disclosure Policies"), and has implemented various security measures (see "Security Measures"). Our commitment to your privacy is reinforced by our adherence to the following privacy policy.
It is HealthMedia's policy to not voluntarily disclose your personal health information to your employer, insurance company, or any other third party without your specific authorization or as required by law.
HealthMedia® CounselorAssist™
For follow-up intervention, your sponsoring organization MAY offer HealthMedia® CounselorAssist™. CounselorAssist allows your counselor to obtain access to your program materials so that they can better assist you. If this program is being offered to you, your sponsoring organization will need your authorization to access your personal health information.
If CounselorAssist is being offered, you will be asked to review and "Accept" the authorization for sharing your personal health information with your counselor. If you do not wish to share your personal health information with your counselor, please select "Do Not Accept" as part of the same authorization question, but you will not have the benefit of counselor access to your personal health information.
Industry Groups
To support our commitment to protecting your privacy and ensuring confidentiality of all information you provide, HMI has partnered with Verisign (www.verisign.com), the leading provider of Internet trust services. HMI uses VeriSign Secure Site digital certificates to provide authentication of HMI, enabling end users to verify connections to HMI product sites and communicate via SSL encryption thus further protecting confidential information from interception and hacking.
Use and Disclosure Policies
The following paragraphs disclose HMI's information gathering and dissemination practices for this Web site.
If you participate in a Lifestyle Management Program you will receive a tailored behavior change intervention guide and follow-up communications. In order to provide you with an accurate and useful tailored personal guide, HMI asks for the minimally necessary information which includes your name, address, and relevant health history along with information about lifestyle behaviors such as smoking and exercise, physical measurements such as height, weight, and blood pressure, and mental health topics. Your answers form the basis of the personal guide that is unique to you. In conjunction with the personal guide you may also receive follow-up newsletters. It is HealthMedia's policy to not voluntarily disclose your personal health information to your employer, insurance company, or any other third party without your specific authorization or as required by law.
During sign-up, you will be given the opportunity to indicate your preference to receive program information or to participate in future research studies. If you indicate a preference to receive information, HMI will use your contact information to send you information about HMI, material about related products, and invitations to participate in research studies to assess the effectiveness of HMI's programs.
Regardless of your initial response in the questionnaire, you may change it. The HMI site provides you the opportunity to update your response to the question "May we contact you in the future with program information or for research purposes?" To update your response to this question, select the My Account link in the top navigation bar. Then select Update Your Contact Information. This will allow you to change your answer selection.
HMI will create aggregate data results for dissemination to sponsoring organizations and for research purposes. THIS AGGREGATE DATA WILL NOT CONTAIN ANY INFORMATION WHICH DISCLOSES YOUR IDENTITY. In this case, your data is combined with data of other participants to determine an overall profile of a population. These data become statistics and may be used by HMI, your employer, health plan, or other organizations to understand the needs and characteristics for selected populations.
HMI uses your IP address only in the event a Web server problem requires diagnosis and to administer the Web site. HMI will not distribute your IP address to any third parties.
Linked Sites
The HMI site may have links to other sites that contain information HMI believes may be helpful to you. HMI cannot and will not be responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these other Web sites.
Security Measures
This site has security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of your information under HMI's control. These measures include:
Authorized Access: You must be registered to use this Web site. The registration process requires a sponsoring organization identifier. Once you are registered, you will use a unique user ID and password to enter the site. Your password is not accessible by HMI. If you lose your password, it cannot be retrieved. At your request, HMI will issue you a new password.
Authentication: HMI uses VeriSign's Secure Site Services to provide authentication, trust, and SSL encryption. This allows site visitors to verify HMI with a trusted third party organization, while enabling communication with HMI's Web sites using secure, encrypted channels.
Cookies: A cookie is a piece of data containing information about the user. Usage of a cookie is not in any way linked to personally identifiable information while on the HMI site. HMI uses a session cookie to ensure that your session remains secure by maintaining an identifier unique to your session and automatically logging you off after a period of inactivity. The session cookie self-terminates after a set expiration time or when you close your browser. Persistent cookies are not used.
Encryption: HMI employs Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption in the use of its products. HMI's Web site will support down to 40-bit encryption.
Children's Guidelines
HMI is committed to protecting the privacy of children. PRODUCTS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 18. In the event the system recognizes that anyone under 18 has attempted to send personal information, the session will be aborted and an appropriate notice posted to the user.
Corrections and Updates
To make corrections and updates to your personal information, go to My Account after you have logged in. You will be able to change your name, birth date, mailing address, phone number, your option to be contacted by HMI with future program information or for research purposes, your email address, or your password.
Changes to This Policy
HealthMedia reserves the right to change this Policy at any time and in its sole discretion. If the Policy is changed, the new Policy will be posted here, along with its revision date, and all information collected following the posting of such changes will be subject to the new Policy. However, before HealthMedia discloses your previously collected personal health information in a materially different manner from that which you authorized, HealthMedia will first secure your affirmative consent for such use or disclosure. Absent such consent, HealthMedia will disclose your personally identifiable information in accordance with the Policy in effect at the time the information was collected.
Contacting the Web Site
If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy statement, the practices of this Web site, or your dealings with this Web site, you can contact:
Web Administrator
HealthMedia, Inc.
130 S. First Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
or go to Contact Customer Care
This policy was last revised on 31 January 2008.
