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Our commitment to earning your trust is to disclose what information is gathered and how it is used.

There are some situations in which PSN collects individually identifiable information from its users. These examples include: creating a user profile to become a registered user, conducting a tailored search on behalf of a registered user; creating a personalized Web site page; ordering a book or other type of resource; contacting the online guide for personal assistance in locating a resource; contacting the PSN with a technical question; or submitting a resource for inclusion to the PSN Web site. Individually identifiable user information that we may collect includes:

• First and last name, street address, city, state, zip code, telephone number, email address, helper role (friend, parent, psychiatrist; nurse etc.) and subject of inquiry. In addition, users may choose to tailor their searches and personalize their Web experience by becoming a registered user of PSN. After becoming registered, users can benefit from powerful search tools that seek to conduct searches for specific requested resources, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Users are sent email reminders on a regular basis to inform them of updates to searches.

• In the situation of resource orders, PSN will, via iTeleHealth, Inc., process standard credit card information (card number, card type, expiration date) via a secure, and encrypted Secure Socket Lines (see data security statement for iTeleHealth). SSLs are the proven standard for secure Web messaging transactions. iTeleHealth, Inc. maintains records of all financial transactions using industry accepted privacy standards.

Other Situations when we May Use and Disclose Your Personal Information

Please be assured that in general, we must have your written authorization to use and disclose your protected individual information. However, we do not need your authorization to use or disclose your information in certain circumstances.

These circumstances include:

• Health and Safety Activities: We may use and disclose your personal information when necessary to prevent or lessen a serious threat to the health and safety of the public, yourself, or another person. Any disclosure would only be to someone able to help prevent or lessen the harm.

• Public Health: We may disclose your personal information to public health and regulatory authorities, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for public health activities which may include: controlling and preventing injury or death and reporting vital events such as deaths.

• Judicial or Administrative Proceedings: We may disclose your personal information for judicial or administrative proceeding if we receive an order of a court or administrative tribunal, requiring the disclosure.

• National Security: We may use or disclose your personal information to authorized Federal officials for conducting national security and intelligence activities. These activities may include protective services to the President and others

• Correctional Facilities: We may disclosure your personal information to a correctional facility if you are an inmate and disclosure in necessary to provide you with care, to protect your health and safety or the health and safety of others or for the safety of the correctional institution.

• Required by Law: We may disclose your personal information for other purposes to the extent required by Federal or state law.

Other Situations When We May or May NOT Require your Authorization to Use or Disclose Information

While it is true that in general we must have your written authorization to use and disclose your personal information, we do not need your authorization to use or disclose your personal information in certain circumstances detailed below.

These circumstances include:

• Situations as required by law (Federal, State or Local)

• Disclosure to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Privacy Rules

• Research: We may use and disclosure your information for research. Before we may use individual information for research, all research projects must go through a special approval process in which a research review board, usually called an Institutional Review Board, evaluates the project and its use of information based on, among other things, the level of risk to you and to your privacy. If your individual information will be used as part of the research project, you will be asked to sign a consent form to participate in the project that includes an authorization for use of your information. However, there are times when we may use your information without an authorization, such as when:
  • A researcher is preparing a plan for a research project. For example, a researcher needs to examine the information about registered users of the web site. The researcher must agree to use this information only to prepare a plan for a research study; the researcher may not use it to contact you or actually conduct the study. The researcher also must agree not to remove that information from iTeleHealth Inc.
  • A researcher conducts a research review board approved project using your individual information OR information (aggregate information, i.e. not personally identifiable) that includes you as part of a group

We may disclose your information for research without an authorization from you if a research review board (i.e. Institutional Review Board) has approved such action based on a determination that the conduct of the research will cause no more than minimal risk to you and to your privacy.

More About Aggregate Information and How It is Used

As noted above, aggregate information is summative or group information and does not identify the individual visitor in any way. The PSN uses the industry accepted Internet tracking tools associated with standard Internet protocols and Web based systems. This system information is typically stored in log files and the information is used for aggregate reporting. Aggregate reporting includes: total number of visitors, most visited sections, peak traffic times, etc. Log files are transaction records that Web servers maintain and might contain information like:

• Internet Service Provider addresses;
• Browser versions;
• Referring Web sites;
• Search terms used;
• Average number of pages requested;
• Average duration of visit;
• Total visitor traffic.

We use aggregate information to add or delete information, make the site more accessible, or to make it easier to navigate. In other words, this information helps us to better serve our audience.

Other Uses and Disclosures Prohibited without your Authorization

Other uses and disclosures of your personal information not covered by this Notice will be made only with your written authorization. If you provide us authorization or permission to use or disclose your personal information, you may revoke that permission in writing, at any time. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclosure your personal information for the reasons covered by your written authorization. Please understand that we are unable to take back any uses and disclosures we have already made with your authorization, or with approval of a scientific review board-approved research study.

Developed with the support of NIMH SBIR contract # N44MH22044

© Copyright iTeleHealth Inc., 2004

Last Updated: July 2004