Effective Date: June 18, 2012
1. Introduction
1.1 PURPOSE OF POLICY
Ventura County Medi-Cal Managed Care Commission dba Gold Coast Health Plan ("us," "we" or "Company") is committed to respecting the privacy rights of its customers, visitors and other users of the Company Website (the "Site"). We created this Website Privacy Policy (this "Policy") to give you confidence as you visit and use the Site, and to demonstrate our commitment to fair information practices and the protection of privacy. This Policy is only applicable to the Site, and not to any other websites that you may be able to access from the Site, each of which may have data collection and use practices and policies that differ materially from this Policy. Additionally, this Policy is for purposes of your visit and use of the Site only and is not intended to address all of the policies the Company has and implements for purposes of privacy of third parties, compliance with HIPAA or Medi-Cal, etc., which are covered by other Company policies.
1.2 NOTICE CONCERNING CHILDREN
PLEASE NOTE: We are a general audience site, and do not direct any of our content specifically at children under 13 years of age. We understand and are committed to respecting the sensitive nature of children's privacy online. If we learn or have reason to suspect that a Site user is under age 13, we will delete any personal information in that user's account.
2. Information Collection Practices
2.1 WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DOES THE COMPANY COLLECT?
In order for you to access or utilize certain services on the Site we require you to provide us with certain information that personally identifies you ("Personal Information"). Personal Information includes the following categories of information: (1) Contact Data (such as your name, telephone number, mailing address, or email address); (2) Financial Data (such as your account or credit card number); (3) Demographic Data (such as your ZIP code, your age, or age of your children); and (4) Medical Insurance and Claims Information (such as insurance policy numbers, physician ID numbers, tax ID number, claims information, or services rendered or provided). If you communicate with us by email, post messages to any of our bulletin boards or forums, or otherwise complete online forms, surveys or contest entries, any information provided in such communication may be collected as Personal Information.
2.2 WHAT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION DOES THE COMPANY COLLECT?
(a) AUTOMATIC COLLECTION. Our servers automatically recognize visitors' domain names and IP addresses (the number assigned to computers on the internet). No Personal Information about you is revealed in this process. The Site may also gather anonymous "traffic data" that does not personally identify you, but that may be helpful for marketing purposes or for improving the services we offer.
(b) COOKIES. From time to time, we may use the standard "cookies" feature of major browser applications that allows us to store a small piece of data on your computer about your visit to our Site. We do not set any personally identifiable information in cookies, nor do we employ any data capture mechanisms on our Site other than cookies. Cookies help us learn which areas of our Site are useful and which areas need improvement. You can choose whether to accept cookies by changing the settings on your browser. However, if you choose to disable this function, your experience at our Site may be diminished and some features may not work as they were intended.
(c) USER CHOICE REGARDING COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION. You may choose not to provide us with any Personal Information. In such an event, you can still access and use much of the Site; however, you will not be able to access and use those portions of the Site that require your Personal Information.
3. Use and Sharing of Information
3.1 WHAT DOES THE COMPANY DO WITH COLLECTED INFORMATION?
(a) PERSONAL INFORMATION. We will not share your Personal Information with any third parties without your consent, except as necessary to provide you with the services offered by us or to comply with the law. We may use your Personal Information to verify your identity, to check your qualification, or to follow up with transactions initiated on the Site. We may also use your Contact Data to inform you of any changes to the Site, or to send you information about our Company, including promotional materials regarding the products and services we provide or programs we support.
(b) ANONYMOUS INFORMATION. We use anonymous information to analyze our Site traffic, but we do not examine this information for individually identifying information. In addition, we may use anonymous IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our server, to administer our Site or to display the content according to your preferences. Traffic and transaction information may also be shared with business partners and advertisers on an aggregate and anonymous basis.
(c) USE OF COOKIES. We may use cookies to deliver content specific to your interests, to save your password so you don't have to re-enter it each time you visit our Site, or for other purposes. Promotions or advertisements displayed on our Site may contain cookies. We do not have access to or control over information collected by outside advertisers on our Site.
(d) DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION. We may disclose Personal Information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to (1) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on the Company or its parent company, subsidiaries or affiliates, (2) protect and defend the rights or property of the Company or the users of the Site, or (3) act under exigent circumstances to protect the safety of the public or users of the Site.
(e) SALE OF INFORMATION. In order to accommodate changes in our business, we may sell or buy portions of our Company or other companies or assets, including the information collected through the Site. If the Company or substantially all of its assets are acquired, customer information will be one of the assets transferred to the acquirer.
(f) ACCESS TO INFORMATION. Unfortunately, we do not maintain any procedures for you to review or request changes to the information that we collect about you, except that you may request that we remove all information about you from our database by contacting us in accordance with Section 6.1 below.
4. Security
The Site has security measures in place to prevent the loss, misuse and alteration of the information that we obtain from you, but we make no assurances about our ability to prevent any such loss, misuse or alteration, and we will have no liability to you or to any third party arising out of any such loss, misuse or alteration.
5. Website Areas Beyond Company's Control
5.1 PUBLIC FORUMS
The Site may include interactive forums such as message boards and chat rooms. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information.
5.2 THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES
The Site may contain links to other websites. If you choose to visit other websites, we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those other websites, and it is your responsibility to review the privacy policies at those websites to confirm that you understand and agree with their policies.
6. Contact Information and Policy Updates
6.1 CONTACTING US
If you have any questions about this Policy, our practices related to the Site, or if you would like to have us remove your information from our database, please contact us at the following:
Email: privacy@goldchp.org
Mail: Gold Coast Health Plan
711 E. Daily Drive, Suite 106
Camarillo, CA 93010-6082
Attn: Communications Department
6.2 UPDATES AND CHANGES
We reserve the right, at any time, to add to, change, update or modify this Policy, simply by posting such change, update or modification on the Site and without any other notice to you. Any such change, update or modification will be effective immediately upon posting on the Site. It is your responsibility to review this Policy from time to time to ensure that you continue to agree with all of its terms.