Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Q1. What information does this Privacy Policy cover?
A1. As used in this Privacy Policy,Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Children’s Hospital, and/or CHP refers to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and its subsidiary and affiliated entities, singly or together.
For purposes of this website, we refer to individuals who use our tools and products as ‘Users’. When this Privacy Policy uses the term "personally identifiable information," we mean information that identifies a particular individual, such as the individual's name, postal address, e-mail address, and telephone number. When other information is directly associated with personally identifiable information, this other information also is treated as personally identifiable information for purposes of this Privacy Policy. Personally identifiable information does not include usernames (which may also known as screen names, member names or other online aliases) provided by our Users in the course of registering with or using any of our Web sites, except in circumstances in which we request that Users provide their e-mail addresses as their usernames. Personally identifiable information is sometimes referred to in this Privacy Policy as "personal information." Finally, the terms of this General Privacy Policy are subject to all applicable state and federal laws.
In addition to our Privacy Policy, CHP has a Minor Privacy Policy designed specifically for Users who are under the age of 18. Click here to view and accept the terms of our Minor Privacy Policy.
A2. What types of personally identifiable information do we collect about our Users?
We collect several types of personally identifiable information about our guests.
Information You Provide to Us
Much of the personally identifiable information we receive comes directly from users (or their parents/legal guardians) who are interested in utilizing various products and services from CHP. Typically, this information includes the user’s name, postal address, e-mail address, and telephone number. We may collect personal information when you register on, log on, or visit our Web sites.
Our Web site may offer message boards, conversation pages, chat rooms, social community environments, profile pages, and other Public Forums as well as other features in which you may provide information. If you provide personal information when you use any of these features, that personal information may be publicly posted and otherwise disclosed without limitation as to its use by a third party.
A4. What choices do you have about the collection, use, and sharing of your personally identifiable information?
With regard to personal information that you have provided under this Privacy Policy, there are two opt-out choices available to you. These opt-out choices are the means by which you give us, or decline to give us, your consent to use your personal information for the purposes covered by these opt-out choices. Some of our Web sites may not present you all three opt-out choices described below. You can exercise your opt-out choices during the registration process or by updating your User Profile. At any time you may unsubscribe to our services by updated your User Profile.
A5. What kinds of security measures do we take to safeguard your personally identifiable information?
The security and confidentiality of your information is extremely important to us. We have implemented technical, administrative, and physical security measures to protect User information from unauthorized access and improper use. From time to time, we review our security procedures in order to consider appropriate new technology and methods. Please be aware though that, despite our best efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable.
A6. How can you update your contact information, opt out choices, and unsubscribe?
You can access and update the contact information you gave us during registration (that is, your postal address, e-mail address, or any other information that would directly enable us to contact you), through your User Profile. Simply click on this link [insert link] or go to the User Profile Section to access your Profile and then log in with your Username and password.
With regard to personal information that you have provided under this Privacy Policy, there are two opt-out choices available to you. These opt-out choices are the means by which you give us, or decline to give us, your consent to use your personal information for the purposes covered by these opt-out choices. You can exercise your opt-out choices during the registration process or by updating your User Profile. At any time you may unsubscribe to our services by updated your User Profile.
A7. How can you ask questions, or send us comments, about this Privacy Policy?
If you have questions or wish to send us comments about this Privacy Policy, please send an e-mail with your questions or comments to [enter email address] or write us:
[enter mailing address]
Please be assured that any personal information that you provide in communications to the above e-mail and postal mail addresses will not be used to send you promotional materials, unless you so request.
A8. How will you know if we amend this Privacy Policy?
We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time. If we amend this Privacy Policy to permit material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share your personal information, we will notify you of such amendment by sending you an e-mail at the last e-mail address that you provided us, and/or by prominently posting notice of such amendment on the Web sites covered by this Privacy Policy. Any such amendment to this Privacy Policy will be effective thirty (30) calendar days following either our dispatch of an e-mail notice to you or our posting of notice of the changes on the Web sites covered by this Privacy Policy. Please note that, at all times, you are responsible for updating your personal information to provide us your current e-mail address. In the event that the last e-mail address that you have provided us is not valid, or for any other reason is not capable of delivering to you the notice described above, our dispatch of the e-mail containing such notice will nonetheless constitute effective notice of the amendment described in the notice. In any event, an amendment to this Privacy Policy may permit material changes in the way we use and share personal information that you provided us prior to our notification to you of such amendment. If you do not wish to allow such material changes, you must so notify us (in the manner we specify) prior to the effective date of the amendment. If you provide us this notice, we may choose to deactivate your account. Please be advised, however, that, regardless of whether you provide such notice to us, any such amendment to this Privacy Policy will apply to any personal information that you provide us on or after the effective date of such amendment.
Our Privacy Policy was last updated on [enter date].
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh takes great pride in the relationships that it has developed with its patients and families. In keeping with this tradition, we at the CHP are dedicated to protecting your privacy and handling any personal information we obtain from you with care and respect. This Minor Privacy Policy is designed to answer your questions regarding our privacy policies and principles with respect to children under the age of 18. We recognize the need to provide additional privacy protections when children visit our sites. We explain those additional protections in this Minor Privacy Policy. For your convenience, this Minor Privacy Policy uses terms that are defined in our general Privacy Policy.
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") requires that we inform parents and legal guardians about how we collect, use, and disclose personal information from children under 13 years of age; and that we obtain the consent of parents and guardians in order for children under 13 years of age to use certain features of our Web sites. As a pediatric health care provider who values the protection of privacy of all its patients, we have extended the COPPA requirements to all Users who are under the age of 18. Below we explain how we do that for these "Users." Also, when we use the term "parent" below, we mean to include legal guardians.
Q1. What types of personal information do we collect about kids?
A1. Users can surf our website, view content, and use any of our interactive tools without any personal information being collected. We do not collect personal information from Users unless they register on the website. Typically, children will register in order to obtain feedback from their physician regarding recommendations for eating, physical, and social behaviors. The only information we collect from kids during our registration process is a kid's first name, parent's e-mail address, kid's birth date, physician name, and password. We collect birth dates to validate the ages of our Users, including kids. We do not collect any other personally identifiable information from kids during our registration process. Note that all sites that are directed to children under 13 are prohibited by law from conditioning a kid's participation in an online activity on the kid's providing more personal information than is reasonably necessary.
We may collect personal information from parents in order to allow kids to participate in certain features located on our Web sites. These features may include one to one instant message chatting, sending e-mail, posting on message boards, and other similar activities. In the course of a kid's participation in these features, a kid may also provide us additional information about himself or herself, such as the contents of his or her chat or message board postings.
Q2. How do we use and share the personally identifiable information that we have collected about kids?
A2. If a kid registers for on our website, we use the parent's e-mail address to notify the parent of the kid's registration request. We may collect a kid's e-mail address from the parent in order to send the kid a e-newsletter or other healthy eating information. In addition, personal information regarding a kid may be collected and used to enable a kid's participation in certain interactive features such as instant message chatting, sending e-mail, posting on message boards and other similar activities. These activities may involve disclosure of a kid's personal information to third party vendors, such as those who assist us in protecting the security of integrity of our sites; to take precautions against liability; to respond to judicial process; or to the extent permitted under provisions of law, to provide information to law enforcement agencies or for an investigation related to public safety.
Q3. How do we notify and obtain consent from parents for the collection of information from their kids?
A3. We send parents an e-mail when their kid registers and we provide parents 48 hours for parents to acknowledge the receipt of the e-mail and affirmative consent to their kid’s registration. We will confirm that parent’s consent with an email providing them with their kid’s username and password. If the parent refuses to allow the kid's registration and entry either explicitly or implicitly by not responding to the e-mail notification, we delete the kid's information from our database. Once a parent permits a kid to register, the kid will be able to continue use of the website for specific registration based activity.
We collect personal information from kids when they participate in activities such as one to one instant message chatting. Before allowing a kid to use these features, we send an additional e-mail to the kid's parent requesting the parent's affirmative consent to the kid's participation. If the parent responds by e-mail and gives such consent, we then follow that communication with an e-mail confirmation to the parent and allow the kid to participate in the activity.
Before allowing a kid to use a feature of our Web sites that might result in the public disclosure of the kid's information to third parties on the Internet, such as posting on open message boards, we require a high level of verification to confirm that the parent has given permission for the kid's participation in such features. For example, we may require a parent to provide us credit card information, speak to a trained telephone operator or return by postal mail or fax a signed consent form.
Q4. How can parents access, change or delete personally identifiable information about their kids?
A4. At any time parents can refuse to permit us to collect further personal information from their kid and can request that any personal information we have collected be deleted from our records. We use two methods to allow parents to access, change, or delete the personally identifiable information that we have collected from their kids.
1. A parent can access, change, or delete his or her kid's personal information by logging on to the kid's account at the User Profile Home Page located at [enter link]. The parent will need to have their kid's member name and password. There are instructions on the Your Account home page explaining how to recover a password if the kid has forgotten it.
A parent can contact our customer service department to access, change, or delete the personal information that we have collected from his or her kid by sending an e-mail to [enter contact email address]. Please include the kid's User name and the parent's e-mail address in the e-mail so that we can better assist you with your inquiry or request.
Q5. How will we notify parents if our Kids' Privacy Policy changes?
A5. We may amend our Kids' Privacy Policy at any time. We will provide parents notice by e-mail of any material changes in the way we intend to collect, use, and/or share kids' personal information. Please note that, at all times, parents should update their personal information to provide us current e-mail addresses. We will apply material changes in our Kids' Privacy Policy only in conformance with applicable law, including any applicable provisions of COPPA that require parental consent.
Q6. Who do Users or Parents contact with questions or concerns about our Kids' Privacy Policy?
A6. If you need further assistance, please send an e-mail with your questions or comments to [enter email address] or write us at:
[enter mailing address]
You may also telephone us at [enter toll free telephone number]. IF YOU ARE NOT 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER, YOU MUST HAVE YOUR PARENT OR GUARDIAN'S PERMISSION TO CALL THIS NUMBER.