Website Privacy Policy

Updated October 2023

The Tahoe Forest Health System website is designed to provide useful information about our organization and to connect users with physicians, facilities, services and employment opportunities within the Tahoe Forest Health System. We may also provide an online donation service. We hope that the information provided encourages visitors to consider using the Tahoe Forest Health System for medical care, or to join our organization as an employee, volunteer, or donor.

Tahoe Forest Health System is committed to protecting the privacy of the users of this website; therefore, this Website Privacy Policy describes how we collect information from you or about you through our website. This Website Privacy Policy also explains why we collect this information, how we will use or disclose this information and how you have the right to update or delete identifiable information about you from our records.

This Website Privacy Policy does not apply to our information collection and use policy or practices offline, which is governed by HIPAA and is available on our Patient Rights and Privacy Practices page.

Tahoe Forest Health System expressly reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate any website user's access to any interactive services and/or to any or all other areas of this website due to any act that would constitute a violation of this Website Privacy Policy and the Website Terms and Conditions. Your use of this website signifies your agreement to the terms of this Website Privacy Policy. If you are not willing to accept the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use our website.

Collection and Use of Your Information

We keep track of visits to our website. This website use data is collected on an aggregate and anonymous basis, which means that no personally identifiable information is associated with the data. This data helps us improve content, effectiveness, and overall usage. The information is not shared with other organizations for their independent use. Specifically, we anonymously collect each website user's domain name (i.e., yahoo.com, aol.com, etc), referral data, including the address of the last URL a user visited prior to visiting our website, and browser and platform type such as a Netscape browser on a Macintosh computer. Also, we may collect aggregate user queries for internal reporting and we may also count, track, and aggregate the visitor's activity to analyze general traffic flows, including tracking where website traffic comes from, how traffic flows, etc.

Additionally, if you provide health information that identifies who you are (as when health information also includes your name or Social Security number) we will only use and disclose such information as stated below and in our Patient Rights and Privacy Practices pages. We encourage you to periodically reread this Privacy Statement, to see if there have been any changes to our that may affect you.

Use and disclosure of health information may include using information that our user provides to provide treatment to that individual, to make payments for such treatment, or to make online donations, and to conduct ongoing quality improvement activities. Our use and disclosure of an individual's personal information (including health information) is limited as required by state and federal law. We shall not sell, rent, or improperly disclose personal information about visitors or customers who use the website.

Cookies

Small data files, called "cookies," may be placed in the web browser's file storage area of the website user's computer hard drive. Cookies are a standard part of Internet technology that allow the storage and retrieval of login information from a user's system. These cookies automatically identify your browser to our server whenever you interact with our website. Cookies can store your preferences through a password you select to access a website. Cookies also help us review website traffic patterns and improve our website. Most browsers automatically accept these cookies; you usually can change your browser setting to prevent the acceptance of cookies, but this may prevent you from using some of the features of our website. Information collected through cookies is not linked to any personally identifiable information.

Our site requires that both cookies and JavaScript be enabled. If you reject cookies from our site, some parts of the site may not work properly for you.

Log Files

We may also collect and log IP addresses to analyze website visitation trends and administer our website. An IP address is a number automatically assigned to your computer whenever you access the Internet, which allows computers and servers to recognize and communicate with each other. IP address information allows us to gather aggregate information on visitors to our website, help diagnose problems with our servers, and see how our website is being used. This aggregate information may be shared with Third Parties, such as our physicians, suppliers and other businesses. To maintain your anonymity, we do not associate IP addresses with records containing personal information, which means IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Electronic Newsletters

We require you to provide an email address to subscribe to an electronic newsletter. If you subscribe, we may also use this email address to send you communications about other Tahoe Forest Health System programs and services. We may also share this email address with our third party email management vendor for purposes of delivering the newsletter to you; however, we do not share your email address with groups outside of Tahoe Forest Health System for any marketing purposes.

You always have the opportunity to opt out of our electronic marketing communications with you or change your preferences by following a link in the footer of all electronic newsletter messages from us or by emailing us at info@tfhd.com.

Ad Tracking

We use cookies, web beacons, pixels, tags, scripts and other similar technologies in the course of our business. Information about the technologies we use, why we use them (for example, in connection with online advertising), and how you can control them can be found in the Cookie and Pixel sections of this policy.

Pixels

A pixel is a piece of code that is placed on a website to track user behavior and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. We use the following pixels: Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Google Ads Remarketing, Global Site Tags, Floodlight, and Simpli.fi.

You may opt out of Google Marketing Platform's use of cookies by visiting the Google Marketing Platform opt-out page or the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.

Social Media

The information you allow us to access varies by social networking site, and depends on the level of privacy settings you have in place at the social networking site. You can control and find out more about these privacy settings at the applicable social networking site.

Security of Your Information

We take commercially reasonable precautions and security measures to keep all information obtained from our online visitors secure against unauthorized access and use, and we periodically review our security measures. Despite these measures, the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to or from us via this website by Internet or email cannot be guaranteed; therefore, you transmit information to us at your own risk. Additionally, you are responsible for keeping your login information and passwords confidential.

Some pages within our website, such as those dealing with e-commerce, may run in a secure-server environment. On such pages where you are asked to enter sensitive information, that information is encrypted and is protected with the encryption software SSL. Your web browser may alert you of a secure page with a padlock icon on your browser and/or warning pop-up window.

We also do everything reasonably possible to protect user information we collect. All of our users' information, not just the sensitive information, is restricted in our offices. Only individuals who need the information to perform a specific job are granted access to personal information, which is password protected. Furthermore, all personnel having access to your personal information are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices.

Credit Card Transactions

We use Third Party companies to help us provide our donation and payment services to you. Some of these companies are given access to some, or all, of the information you provide to us and may use cookies on our behalf. These companies are contractually restricted from using your information in any manner, other than in helping us to provide you with the services available on our site. If you provide us with your credit card number for donations or payments, your credit card information is stored in a secure manner in accordance with our general Website Privacy Policy as stated herein. Please click on the links below to read how these Third Parties use and protect your credit card information.

MyChart Multi-Form Factor Authentication (MFA)

Multi-Form Factor Authentication (MFA) is a program that will send a one-time use verification code via SMS that you enter while logging into MyChart. This extra layer of security helps ensure that you’re the only person who can log in to your account, even if someone else knows your username and password.

You can cancel the SMS service at any time. Just text "STOP" to the short code. After you send the SMS message "STOP" to us, MyChart will send you an SMS message to confirm that you have unsubscribed. After this, you will no longer receive SMS messages from us. If you want to join again, please follow instructions on your account settings page to activate SMS, and MyChart will resume sending SMS messages to you.

If you are experiencing issues with the messaging program, you can reply with the keyword HELP for more assistance, or you can get help directly at (855) 564-7937. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency will be one message per request. If you have any questions about your text plan or data plan, it is best to contact your wireless provider.

Your Option to Opt-Out

As stated above, if a website user provides their e-mail address and requests information in an ongoing manner through this website, then the user may make a request to discontinue future mailings or receipt of related information. All such materials sent through e-mail will contain information about how you may opt-out.

Additionally, if you wish to delete or correct your personally identifiable information obtained through this website, you may contact: info@tfhd.com or via US Mail Marketing Department PO Box 759, Truckee, CA 96141

Disclosure to Third-Parties

We do not sell your personal information to any Third Parties for commercial purposes. We reserve the right to disclose your personal information to another party, such as law enforcement officials, as required by law, including but not limited to: court orders, government or law enforcement agency requests, to protect or defend Tahoe Forest Health System, or where we perceive an immediate danger of death or serious physical injury to someone resulting from user activity on our website. This right extends to situations where we may not have authority to first advise you of such disclosure. Tahoe Forest Health System may also disclose personal information collected to contact users related to inappropriate use of our website, violation of our Website Terms and Conditions, or in connection with a complaint about their use of our website filed by another person.

Children's Information Privacy

The Federal law, Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), prohibits us from requesting personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without parental consent. This website is not intended or designed to attract children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly allow anyone under the age of 13 to participate in any activity on our website, and we do not knowingly allow persons under the age of 13 to create accounts that allow access to any secured features of this site. Any such information received with parental consent from users under the age of 13, is protected under our general security procedures as stated herein and their personally identifiable information will not be shared with third parties, regardless of their stated preference when registering to use this website.

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

In addition to your rights specified in this Policy, California citizens and households may request the deletion of or access to their Personal Information in accordance with the CCPA. To submit a request to delete or a request to access your Personal Information, please contact us in writing at:

Chief Privacy Officer
Tahoe Forest Health System
10121 Pine Avenue
Truckee, CA 96161

You must include sufficient detail in your request, such as your first and last name, date of birth, email, and postal addresses. We may ask you for more information where required in order to identify you correctly. We will attempt to provide you with the requested information within forty-five (45) days of receipt. We do not discriminate against customers who submit requests to access or delete their Personal Information.

Website Privacy Policy Changes

If we propose to use your personally identifiable information in a manner materially different from that stated at the time your personally identifiable information was collected, then we will notify you via email. The email notification will give you the ability to prevent us from using your personally identifiable information in this different manner. If, however, material changes are made to the Website Privacy Policy that do not affect personally identifiable information already stored in our database, then we will post a prominent notice on our website notifying users of the change and will not directly email you.

Comments or Questions

The information on our website is managed by the Tahoe Forest Health System Communications and Marketing Department. For questions, concerns or suggestions please contact our Web Manager at info@tfhd.com.

Comments or questions will be routed to the appropriate individual within the organization. You can also contact us via U.S. mail:

Tahoe Forest Health System
Marketing and Communications Department
PO BOX 759
Truckee, CA 96161