We hold personal privacy as sacred. Period. We respect your right to privacy and your expectation that all personal information about you will be maintained in a secure manner. At Northwest Metabolic Medicine, LLC (NWMM) we have a few fundamental principles:
- We don’t ask you for any personal information unless we truly need it.
- We don’t share your personal information with anyone except to comply with the law, operate our business, or protect our rights. We will NEVER, under any circumstances, ever: sell, trade, release, rent, etc your personal information to any party for any commercial purpose other than what is directly required for the ongoing operation of our business.
- We are committed to maintaining the confidentiality, security and integrity of patient information. We don’t store personal information on our servers unless absolutely required for the ongoing operation of one of our services.
Protected Health Information
This Notice of Privacy Practices does not attempt to address policy and use of “Protected Health Information” (PHI). Protected Health Information is information about you, including demographic information, that may identify you and that relates to your past, present or future physical or mental health or condition and related health care services. We will never solicit, store, or release PHI on our website, nor store such information on our web servers. If you are, or become a patient, you will be provided with an additional notice that outlines how we may use and disclose your protected health information to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations (and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law).
Website Visitors
Like most website operators, NWMM can receive non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. The purpose in collecting this type of non-personally identifying information is to better understand how visitors use our website.
Cookies
A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. NWMM may use limited cookies to help us identify and track visitors and their usage of our website. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally-identifiable information on our site. Visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on their computers should set their web browsers to refuse cookies before using NWMM’s websites, with the drawback that certain limited features of our website may not function properly without the aid of cookies.
Gathering of Personally-Identifying Information
“Personally identifiable information” is defined very broadly to include things like a first and last name, a physical address, an e-mail address, a telephone number, or any other information that permits the contact of an individual. Certain visitors to NWMM’s websites may choose to interact with NWMM in ways that require NWMM to gather personally-identifying information, and the amount/type of information that we gather depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, visitors who use a contact form may choose to voluntarily provide a username and email address. In each case, NWMM collects such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor’s interaction with NWMM. Also, visitors can always refuse to supply personally-identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent them from engaging in certain website-related activities. If we have entered into a business relationship with you, we may also collect personal information about you from text messages, e-mails, faxes, telephone calls, postal mail or other communications, as well as from outside sources (such as credit card processors, database vendors, etc.). However, we are the sole owners of the information collected. NWMM does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below.
Protection of Certain Personally-Identifying Information
NWMM discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only to those of its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations that
(i) need to know that information in order to process it on NWMM’s behalf or to provide services we render, and
(ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others.
For example, we may share information when it is necessary and required to process a payment transaction or to service a customer relationship. However, we do not permit them to use that information for their own or any other purposes, or rent, sell, trade or otherwise release or disclose the information to any other party. NWMM will not rent or sell potentially or personally-identifying information to anyone. Other than to its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations, as described above, NWMM discloses personally-identifying information only in response to a subpoena, court order or other governmental request, or when NWMM believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of NWMM, or an involved third party. NWMM takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of personally-identifying information.
Employee Access to Information:
Our Code of Ethics, which applies to all employees, restricts the use of customer information and requires that it be held in the strictest of confidence. Employee access to customer information is authorized for business purposes only, and the degree of access is based on the sensitivity of the information and on an employee’s or agent’s need to know the information in order to provide services or comply with legal requirements.
Unencrypted e-mail is not a secure method of communication. Please do not provide any sensitive or confidential health information or personal information such as social security numbers, account numbers, or credit card numbers within your e-mail correspondence to us.
Privacy Policy Changes
The effective date of this policy is November 13, 2013. Although most changes are likely to be minor, we may change our Privacy Practices from time to time, and in NWMM’s sole discretion. We encourage visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to our Privacy Practices. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy Practices will constitute your acceptance of such change.
If you have any questions about our privacy policy, please use the site feedback link at the bottom of any page.
