Effective December 10, 2004.

Healthsearches™, a division of HC Search Corporation, the company (hereafter referred to as “we,” “us,” or “our”) that brings you the healthsearches.org website and the online newsletter from the healthsearches.org website, respects the privacy of personal information of our users. Our Privacy Policy describes what information we collect about you and your use of the services of the healthsearches.org website and the online newsletter from the healthsearches.org website, how we use that information, and to whom that information is disclosed.

ABOUT OUR PRIVACY POLICY AND USING OUR WEBSITE AND ONLINE NEWSLETTER

This Privacy Policy applies to the healthsearches.org website and the online newsletter from the healthsearches.org website. If you enter a website other than the healthsearches.org website through a link, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites. We encourage you to review the privacy statements of every website that you visit through a link on either the healthsearches.org website or the online newsletter from the healthsearches.org website.

The healthsearches.org website collects two different types of information. We may collect information that identifies you as an individual, such as your name and email address, which we will refer to in this Privacy Policy as “Personally Identifiable Information.” We may also collect non-identifying information, which is information that is collected from you but does not identify you as an individual, such as the web pages a user (again not identifying you specifically) visits, features used, or links clicked on, all of which we will refer to in this Privacy Policy as “Non-Personal Information.

Although you may use some of the functions of the healthsearches.org website without registration, certain services on our website, such as “Ask Us A Question” or subscription to our online newsletter, require registration. If you use the healthsearches.org website without registering, the only information we may collect will be Non-Personal Information.

If you choose to register with the healthsearches.org website for either “Ask Us A Question” or subscription to our online newsletter, we require you to submit Personally Identifiable Information. Depending on the service you have selected, we may also collect Personal Health Information. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the Personally Identifiable Information and Personal Health Information you submit to the healthsearches.org website. Inaccurate information you submit will affect the information you receive when using the healthsearches.org website and our ability to contact you as described in this Privacy Policy. For example, your email address should be kept current, because that it is how we communicate with you.  

PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

We collect Personally Identifiable Information that you provide to us when you register for either “Ask Us A Question” or a subscription to the newsletter from the healthsearches.org website. We use the Personally Identifiable Information that you provide to respond to your questions, provide you with a subscription to the newsletter from the healthsearches.org website, send you emails about website maintenance and updates, and inform you of significant changes to this Privacy Policy.

As you use the healthsearches.org website, you may be given the option of subscribing to recurring informational newsletters via email from the healthsearches.org website. Emails to you will be of a general nature and will not disclose your unique health characteristics.

In order to subscribe to our newsletter via email, we need your contact information, such as name and email address. Instructions regarding options for renewal and un-subscribing to the newsletter will be provided in the healthsearches.org website and/or in the newsletter.

In some cases, when you click on a link from the healthsearches.org website or our online newsletter to a website other than the healthsearches.org website or our online newsletter, your browser may be momentarily directed to the website of a third party, which, acting on behalf of the healthsearches.org website or our online newsletter, may note or "count" your response before re-directing your browser to its proper destination; this re-direction process will not be apparent to you.

We and the healthsearches.org website may offer users the opportunity to register for paid subscription services to our newsletter. The subscription service may have its own Service Agreement that governs your use of the service and the information we collect to provide the service, including your credit card information. The Service Agreement will be disclosed to you at the time of registration for that subscription service.

This Privacy Policy does not protect you when you send information other than “Ask Us A Question” or subscription or un-subscription requests for our newsletter via email to the healthsearches.org website. If you want to keep other information private, do not send it in an email to either of the healthsearches.org website email addresses, which are wellness@healthsearches.org and
B@healthsearches.org.

We, the healthsearches.org website, and our online newsletter are committed to protecting the privacy of children. Neither the healthsearches.org website, nor the newsletter from the healthsearches.org website, nor any of the other services from the healthsearches.org website are designed or intended to attract children under the age of 13. We do not collect Personally Identifiable Information from any person we actually know is under the age of 13.

On occasion, in order to gather feedback about our site, we or contractors acting on our behalf may conduct email invitations to participate in online market research surveys.

When participating in a survey, we may ask you to submit Personally Identifiable Information. This Personally Identifiable Information collected through market research is used for research purposes, and is not used for sales solicitations. Although the healthsearches.org site is not intended for anyone under the age of 13, for market research surveys we will not knowingly accept survey responses from or conduct interviews with any person under the age of 18.

NON-PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

Even if you do not register with the healthsearches.org website, we may collect Non-Personal Information about your use of the healthsearches.org website.

DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION

Except as set forth in this Privacy Policy or as specifically agreed to by you, we, the healthsearches.org website, and our online newsletter will not disclose any Personally Identifiable Information it gathers from you on our website. In the event that we are legally compelled to disclose your Personally Identifiable Information to a third party, we will attempt to notify you, unless doing so would violate the law or court order.

As our business evolves, we may sell, transfer, or otherwise share some or all of its assets, including Personally Identifiable Information, in connection with a merger, reorganization, or sale of assets, or in the event of bankruptcy. In such an event, Personally Identifiable Information, along with Non-Personal Information, may be one of the assets transferred.

Our operations and maintenance contractors and third party service providers may have access to your Personally Identifiable Information in the course of providing technology and services to us, the healthsearches.org website, and our online newsletter. These contractors include vendors and suppliers that provide us with technology and services related to better operation and maintenance of the healthsearches.org website and our online newsletter.

Unless you have opted out of receiving emails and newsletters from the healthsearches.org website, these contractors also may have access to your email address to send newsletters to you on our behalf, or to send emails to you for purposes such as conducting market research on our behalf. Access to your Personally Identifiable Information by these contractors is limited to the information reasonably necessary for the contractor to perform its limited function for us, the healthsearches.org website, and our online newsletter. We also contractually require that our operations and maintenance contractors (1) protect the privacy of your Personally Identifiable Information consistent with this Privacy Policy, and (2) not use or disclose your Personally Identifiable Information for any purpose other than providing us with services.

For your convenience, the healthsearches.org website and our online newsletter may provide links to websites operated by other companies ("Third Party Websites"). These links may be found referenced within content, or placed beside the names or logos of sponsors.

We, the healthsearches.org website, and our online newsletter do not disclose your Personally Identifiable Information to these Third Party Websites without obtaining your consent.

We do not endorse and are not responsible for the privacy practices of these sites. If you choose to link to one of these Third Party Websites, you should review the privacy policy posted on this other website to understand how that Third Party Website collects and uses your Personally Identifiable Information.

HOW WE, THE HEALTHSEARCHES.ORG WEBSITE, AND OUR ONLINE NEWSLETTER INTERNALLY HANDLE PRIVACY AND SECURITY

We, the healthsearches.org website, and our online newsletter have security measures in place designed to protect against the loss, misuse, alteration and unauthorized access of Personally Identifiable Information. We, the healthsearches.org website, and our online newsletter reserve the right to maintain your Personally Identifiable Information in secure on-line and off-line facilities.

Despite the efforts of our company, the healthsearches.org website, and our online newsletter to protect your Personally Identifiable Information, there is always some risk that an unauthorized third party may find a way around our security systems or that transmissions of your information over the Internet will be intercepted.

UPDATING YOUR INFORMATION AND CONTACTING US

A. Updating or Removing Your Personally Identifiable Information

If you want to update or remove the Personally Identifiable Information that you have provided to us, you can email us at privacy@healthsearches.org.

B. Contacting Us

If you have a complaint or problem regarding privacy, you can either:

C. Limitations on Removing or Changing Information

Upon your request, we will delete your Personally Identifiable Information from our active databases and where feasible from our back-up media. You should be aware that it is not technologically possible to remove each and every record of the information you have provided to either the healthsearches.org website or our online newsletter from our servers.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to discontinue or limit functionality in all its services.

We will inform you if a material change to the Privacy Policy is made that involves the use of your Personally Identifiable Information. Your continued use of the healthsearches.org website or our online newsletter will indicate acceptance of the changes. You may of course choose to cease continuing to use the healthsearches.org website or our online newsletter. Please exit the website or our online newsletter immediately if you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy or any revised policy.

We may make non-significant changes to the Privacy Policy that do not affect Personally Identifiable Information. For these instances, we may not notify the user of such non-significant changes.