Privacy Policy

Kaiser Permanente is committed to protecting the privacy and security of the users of our Web site. This privacy policy will advise you about how we protect your personal information, and about what choices you have concerning our use of such information. Please read this policy carefully. We will undertake to monitor this policy on a regular basis in order to address new issues and reflect changes on our site. At the same time, we will provide a meaningful opportunity for users to give feedback regarding the site.

This policy only applies to the use of information about users of our Web site. For information about Kaiser Permanente's general privacy policies, please see our Notice of Privacy Practices.

Please note: We try to address common questions and issues in our privacy policy. If you have any questions that are not answered here, send a message to our Webmaster.

We will post changes to our policy here so that you will know what information we gather, how we might use it, and whether we will disclose it to anyone. Please refer back to this policy regularly.

At the current time, we request a limited set of identifying information from you in order to grant access to the Web site and to customize your experience. In the future, we may request personal identification information from you in connection with your use of, or participation in, new online services, surveys, forums, subscription registrations, bulletin boards, discussion groups, and requests or suggestions. We may also collect additional information to comply with state or federal regulations regarding the disclosure of personally identifiable health information. In all of these cases, we will collect personal identification information from you only if you voluntarily submit such information to us, and will allow you to review and change some personal identification on demand, through your Kaiser Permanente profile.

With few exceptions (see below) we will not disclose any personal identification information that might identify you, such as your full name, street address, telephone number, credit card number or e-mail address to any third party other than our trusted business partners who have agreed to abide by this privacy policy. If you access outside Web sites that are linked from our site, we encourage you to review the privacy policies of those sites to understand how your personal information may be used by those sites.

The following are exceptions to these policies: we will release specific information about you or your account to comply with any valid legal process such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order. We may also release specific information in special cases, such as if there is an attempted breach of the security of the Group Health Cooperative site, or a physical threat to you or others.

If you do provide us with personal information, we may use it to help the site provide better services to our users.

Kaiser Permanente does not make underwriting or insurance coverage decisions based on our members' use of the Kaiser Permanente site. We do not monitor individual use of health information resources, such as Healthwise® Knowledgebase* or Group Health Cooperative health information pages.

If you identify yourself to us by sending us e-mail with questions or comments, we may use your personal information to respond to your questions or comments. We may file your comments for future reference, or we may discard the information after we have reviewed it. We will not sell, rent, or otherwise distribute your e-mail address to any outside entity or organization.

Please note that if you give out personal information online — through bulletin boards and/or discussion groups — that information can be collected and used by other Kaiser Permanente site participants. Although we strive to protect our users' privacy, we cannot guarantee the security of information you post in these forums. You disclose such information at your own risk.

We collect non-personal identification information through the use of "cookie" technology and/or IP address tracking. Non-personal identification information might include the browser you use, the type of computer, the operating systems, the Internet service provider, and other similar information. Your member ID number or profile information is not stored in cookies.

We use such information in the "aggregate" to understand how our users, as a group, use the services and resources provided on our site. "Aggregate" information is information from a group of individuals that has been compiled and processed so that no individual's information can be isolated. We study aggregate information to learn which areas of our site are most popular, which areas need improvement, and what technologies are being used so that we may continually improve our site.

Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you do so, please note that some parts of the Kaiser Permanente site may not function properly.

Protecting your privacy and your information is a top priority. We have taken careful measures to secure both your information and our physical premises. We exercise great care in providing secure transmission of your information from your PC to our servers. Our secure server software encrypts information, ensuring that all Internet transactions remain private (unless sent by an unsecured means, such as e-mail).

Please remember that you, too, must use care to ensure the security of your private information. You must be responsible for making sure that no one else can learn your password or other log-in information, or otherwise make use of these to access our Web site. We cannot protect your personal computer from unauthorized access, and our systems cannot see past your log-in name and password to verify that the person using that information is really you. For more security information, see Clearing your cache.

If you access this Web site through your employer's computer network, we encourage you to review your employer's policy on Internet usage and/or confidentiality and security policy. Although we have taken strong measures to ensure the privacy of your personal information, we cannot control the monitoring activities that may be conducted by your employer.

Responsible partnering:

Kaiser Permanente seeks to work with trustworthy organizations and sites that will abide by applicable law and uphold similar ethical standards.

By using any part of the Kaiser Permanente site, you signify your acceptance of our privacy policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our site. Your continued use of the Group Health Cooperative site following the posting of changes to these terms will mean that you accept those changes.

*Healthwise is a registered trademark of Healthwise, Incorporated.

Revised 1/03