Internet privacy policy

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Patient rights and responsibilities

Internet Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 16, 2023

This Privacy Policy describes and governs the manner in which Nebraska Medicine (“Nebraska Medicine” or “us”, “we” or “our”) collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users (each, a “User”) of its websites and mobile applications, including www.nebraskamed.com, certain affiliate websites and mobile applications linking to this Privacy Policy, and mobile applications offered under the Nebraska Medicine name that do not have a separate privacy policy (individually a “Site”, collectively, the “Sites”).

General Information

This Privacy Policy applies to information we collect on this Site, including through any email, text, or other electronic messages between you and this Site.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use the Sites. By using the Sites, you consent to the collection and use of your information in the manner we describe in this Privacy Policy. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THESE TERMS, DO NOT USE THE SITES.

This Privacy Policy may change from time to time (see the "Changes to Our Privacy Policy" section below). Your continued use of a Site after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Privacy Policy periodically for updates.

Protected Health Information

Nebraska Medicine’s use and disclosure of certain of your information may be subject to the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and its implementing regulations ("HIPAA") and applicable state law. Any information that you submit to us that constitutes "Protected Health Information," as defined by HIPAA, is subject to HIPAA and applicable state law. The term "Protected Health Information" or "PHI" refers to individually identifiable health information about your past, present or future physical or mental health or condition, the provision of health care to you or the past, present or future payment for such care. If any information collected on our Sites constitutes PHI, then our Notice of Privacy Practices will apply. Please note that our Notice of Privacy Practices is a separate document that governs how Nebraska Medicine and its affiliated entities may use and disclose your medical information. You can view our Notice of Privacy Practices at: https://www.nebraskamed.com/patients/rights-responsibilities/notice-privacy-practices.

Our Sites do not provide medical advice. IN THE EVENT OF A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM OR DIAL 911 IMMEDIATELY.

Information we collect about you and how we collect it

We collect several types of information from and about Users, including information:

  • By which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, e-mail address, telephone number, or any other identifier by which you may be contacted online or offline ("personal information");
  • That is about you but individually does not identify you; and/or
  • About your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Website, and usage details.

We collect this information:

  • Directly from you when you provide it to us.
  • Automatically as you navigate through the Site. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies.
  • From publicly available sources.

Information you provide to us

The information we collect on or through the Sites may include:

  • Information that you provide by filling in forms on the Site.
  • Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us.

Although we limit access to certain pages/you may set certain privacy settings for such information by logging into your account profile, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. Additionally, we cannot control the actions of other users of the Site with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.

Communications, newsletter and related services

Nebraska Medicine provides you opportunities to receive communications from us or third parties. For example, you can sign up for a free email newsletter. You can unsubscribe from this newsletter at any time.

You may decide at some point that you no longer wish to receive communications from our Sites. To stop receiving communications, send an email to reply@nebraskamed.com or send regular mail to the following postal address:

Digital Communications
988132 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, Nebraska 68198-8132

Cookies and similar technologies

Certain portions of the Sites may use cookies and similar technologies for record-keeping purposes. When you revisit those portions of the Sites, these technologies allow us to recognize you, your interests, and your preferences. These technologies also assist us in measuring performance of our marketing efforts, assessing the channels that were most helpful in assisting you. We will not attempt to identify you through this measuring process.

We also may use these technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services (behavioral tracking). If these technologies are used, the information we collect automatically is only statistical data and does not include personal information. It helps us to improve our Sites and to deliver a better and more personalized service. The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

  • Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of the Sites. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to the Sites.
  • Web Beacons. Certain pages within a Site and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count Users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).

We do not collect personal information automatically, but we may tie this information to personal information about you that we collect from other sources or you provide to us.

We use third party analytics services on certain portions of our Sites, including Google Analytics.  To learn more about Google Analytics, visit: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

How we use your information

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:

  • To present the Sites and their content to you.
  • To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.
  • To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
  • To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection.
  • To notify you about changes to a Site or any products or services we offer or provide though it.
  • In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
    For any other purpose with your express consent.

We may also use your information to contact you about opportunities that may be of interest to you. If you do not want us to use your information in this way, please contact us at reply@nebraskamed.com to update your preferences. 

Disclosure of your information

We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.

We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this Privacy Policy:

  • To our subsidiaries and affiliates.
  • To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business.
  • To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it.
  • For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
  • With your consent.

We may also disclose your personal information:

  • To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
  • To enforce or apply ourrights under any agreements, including for billing and collection purposes.
  • If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Nebraska Medicine, our patients, Users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection security incidents.

Relationships with third parties

A Site may incorporate third party offerings that collect and retain information about you. These third parties may use this information to help a Site work properly. Note that this Privacy Policy applies only to the Sites as provided by Nebraska Medicine.

Nebraska Medicine has not reviewed any websites linked to our Sites and we are not responsible for the content of any such linked websites.  To the extent legally permissible, we disclaim liability for third-party offerings. We do not exercise control over third-party offerings, and they may or may not have privacy protections similar to those set out in this Privacy Policy.  In the ordinary course of business, we may share some information about you with a third party. For example, we may make legally compelled disclosures and other disclosures as described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy.

The Nebraska Medicine app may interact with your personal data to provide certain features, such as video visits or mobile appointment check-in. The first time you try to use any of these features, we will ask for your consent within the app and will only allow you to use the feature if you give consent.  You do not have to provide consent if you do not want to allow the Nebraska Medicine app to interact with your data as requested. The Nebraska Medicine app is developed by Epic Systems Corporation.  A such, please refer to Epic’s Mobile Application Privacy Policy for Patients for more detailed information about the limited ways they may interact with your information to make use of the Nebraska Medicine app possible.

Required third party terms

Some third parties we work with require that we make certain disclosures to you about your personal information. These third-party disclosures apply to you in the same way the rest of this policy does. Google has determined that the Nebraska Medicine app (one of our Sites) is subject to its COVID-19 app requirements. As a result, we are required to provide the following information to you. 

Here are the types of data that may be accessed, based upon your consent, with a clear explanation for each.  

  • Use your location data to notify front desk staff when you arrive for an appointment or to suggest healthcare providers that are near you. The Nebraska Medicine app will not store your location data.
  • Use your camera to take new photos or to capture and transmit video for video visits. You choose if you want to use photos to personalize your account or send them as file attachments when you send messages to your healthcare providers.
  • Use your microphone to capture audio for video visits. The Nebraska Medicine app will not store your audio data.
  • Access your device’s storage to read and write files and photos you choose to use in the Nebraska Medicine app. These files and photos may be used as attachments that are sent to your provider, or they may be created from attachments sent to you from your provider.
  • Access your device’s Bluetooth to detect other nearby devices. This information will be used to notify front desk staff when you arrive for an appointment. The Nebraska Medicine app will not store your Bluetooth data.
  • Use your phone to call phone numbers displayed in the app. The Nebraska Medicine app will not store your call history or other call data.
  • The Nebraska Medicine app may access your calendar to allow you to save appointments. The Nebraska Medicine app will not read or store any information from your calendar.
  • The Nebraska Medicine app may access your phone WiFi state to ensure that you are connected when registering. The Nebraska Medicine app will not store your WiFi state.
  • The aforementioned information is not used in connection with COVID-19.
  • The Nebraska Medicine app may allow you to access COVID-19-related vaccination information, laboratory test results and documents with illness-related information. You may choose if or how you want to access, display, or use the information – just like you can make those decisions about health information relating to other conditions, services, tests or vaccinations. 

Choices about how we use and disclose your information

We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information: 

Your Communication Preferences

When you register with a Site, you may be presented with options for indicating your communication preferences, such as for promotions or announcements of new services and products. If you change your mind, return to Site and change your preferences or contact us using the information set out below.

Your Ability to Update Your Personal Information

To update your personal information, return to the Site or contact us using the information set out below.

Your Ability to Delete Your Personal Information

To request that we delete your personal information previously provided, return to the Site or contact us using the information set out below.

It is not always possible to delete your personal information provided via a Site. Copies of your personal information may exist in a non-erasable form. We only use these non-erasable forms of your personal information for limited purposes, for example, data backups and archives.

Your Choices About Advertising and Marketing

There are non-Nebraska Medicine resources that may help you manage how your personal information is collected and used for advertising and marketing purposes, such as the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”). For more information regarding the DAA and its WebChoices and AppChoices tools, visit its website at https://youradchoices.com/.

Data security

While we cannot guarantee that loss, misuse, or alteration of your information will never occur, we use reasonable efforts to prevent it.  When you send your personal information to us over the internet, please keep in mind that no method of storage or transmission over the Internet is completely secure, so your provision of information to us is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website. Nebraska Medicine cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you transmit information at your own risk.

We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure.  For example, we use secure socket layer (SSL) encryption to protect the transmission of information you submit to us when you use our secure online forms. All the information you provide us through these forms is stored securely offline. 

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of a Site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Data retention

In general, we will retain all information collected through the Sites for, at a minimum, the length of time permitted by law. However, we will delete any personally identifiable information in our database upon your request or as otherwise required by law. We may retain non-personally identifiable information indefinitely. 

Users from outside the United States

The Sites are only intended to be used by Users in the United States. The Sites are hosted in the United States and are governed by United States law. If you are using a Site from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. By using the Sites, you consent to your information being transferred to our facilities and to the facilities of those third parties with whom we share it as described in this Privacy Policy. By providing your personal information, you are doing so at your own discretion.

Children's privacy

Our Sites are not intended for use by minors and is not directed to children under age 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under age 13. If you are under 13, do not use or provide any information on this Site or on or through any of its features. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. 

Accessibility

The Sites are designed to be accessible to visitors with disabilities, and to comply with federal guidelines concerning accessibility. We welcome your comments. If you have suggestions on how to make the Sites more accessible, please contact us at reply@nebraskamed.com.

Changes to our privacy policy

We reserve the right to modify or amend this Privacy Policy at any time. All changes to this Privacy Policy will be effective immediately upon posting to the Sites.  A link to the current version of this Privacy Policy is available on each of the Site.  Continued use of the Sites after the effective date of a modified Privacy Policy will indicate your agreement to any modified terms.  Each version of our Privacy Policy will be prominently marked with an effective date. As such, we encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically and to make note of the date of the most recent version. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date, active, and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting the Site and this Privacy Policy to check for any changes.

Contact information

If you have any questions or complaints regarding our Privacy Policy or related practices, please contact us at reply@nebraskamed.com, Digital Communications at 988132 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-8132, or 402.559.3556.