Table of Contents:

1. Terms of Use
2. Copyright Notice
3. Intellectual Property
4. Software Quality
5. Objectionable Information and Materials
6. Disclaimer of Liability
7. Disclaimer of Endorsement
8. Medical Information
9. About This Privacy Policy
10. Data That We Collect and Receive
11. How We Use Data
12. How We Share and Disclose Data
13. What Choices You Have
14. Cookies and Similar Technologies
15. Security of Data
16. Third Party Sites and Sections
17. Storing Data
18. Changes to This Privacy Policy
19. How to Contact Us

 

1. Terms of Use

These terms of use apply to the entire group of Web sites owned, operated, licensed, or controlled by the Maryland Area Health Education Center West (sometimes hereinafter referred to as “AHEC West”). Please read these terms and conditions carefully before using this Web site. By using this Web site or any other site owned, operated, licensed, or controlled by AHEC West, you signify your assent to these terms of use. If you do not agree to these terms of use, you may not access or otherwise use the site. AHEC West reserves the right, at its discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of these terms at any time. Please check these terms periodically for changes. Your continued use of this site or any other AHEC West Web site following the posting of changes to these terms will mean you accept those changes.

 

2. AHEC WEST Copyright and Privacy Notice

Copyright Status: Most information at this site is in the public domain. Unless otherwise stated, these documents may be freely distributed without modification and used for non-commercial, scientific, educational or personal purposes. However, you may encounter documents or portions of documents contributed by private companies or organizations. Other parties may retain all rights to publish or reproduce these documents. Commercial use of the documents on this site may be protected under U.S. and foreign copyright laws.  In no event shall materials from this Web site be stored in any information storage and retrieval system without prior written permission from AHEC West.

 

3. Intellectual Property

This Web site is protected by copyright as a collective work and/or compilation, pursuant to U.S. copyright laws, international conventions and other laws. Unless otherwise indicated, the Content, including, but not limited to, graphic images, buttons, layout, trademarks, logos, text, and other materials contained in this Web site and in the other sites of AHEC West are the exclusive property of the Maryland Area Health Education Center West, and/or its related, affiliated and subsidiary organizational units, or its third party licensors.

 

4. Software Quality

AHEC West and/or its related, affiliated and subsidiary organizational units do not warrant that any information, software or other material accessible through one of their Web pages is free of defects, viruses, worms, trojan horses or other harmful components.

 

5. Objectionable Information and Materials

When accessing or making use of any service provided on the Web pages of AHEC West you may not:

post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, profane, or otherwise objectionable information of any kind, including without limitation, any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, national or international law, including without limitation, the U.S. export control laws and regulations;

post or transmit any information or software which contains a virus, worm, trojan horse or other harmful component; restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Web site; post, publish, transmit, reproduce, distribute or in any way exploit any information, software or other material obtained through our Web pages for commercial purposes (other than expressly permitted by the provider of such information, software or other material); or

upload, post, publish, transmit, reproduce or distribute in any way, information, software or other material obtained through our Web pages which is protected by copyright, or other proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without obtaining permission of the copyright owner or rightholder, or upload, post, publish, reproduce, transmit or distribute in any way any component of our Web pages themselves or derivative works with respect thereto, except where expressly permitted in writing.

 

6. Disclaimer of Liability

For documents available from this site, the Maryland Area Health Education Center West does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed.

 

7. Disclaimer of Endorsement

— General —

AHEC West does not endorse or recommend any commercial products, processes, or services. The views and opinions of authors expressed on AHEC West Websites do not necessarily state or reflect those of the Maryland Area Health Education Center West, and they may not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.

— External Links —

Some AHEC West sites may provide links to other Internet sites only for the convenience of World Wide Web users. AHEC West is not responsible for the availability or content of these external sites, nor does AHEC West endorse, warrant or guarantee the products, services or information described or offered at these other Internet sites.

 

8. Medical Information

It is not the intention of AHEC West to provide specific medical advice, but rather to provide users with access to general information to facilitate a better understanding of public health issues. Specific medical advice will not be provided, and AHEC West urges you to consult with an appropriate, qualified medical provider for diagnosis and for answers to your personal questions.

 

9. About This Privacy Policy

This privacy policy (the “Policy”) explains what data AHEC West collects from you through our interactions with you and through our services, events and programs – including our websites and digital platforms (each a “Service,” and collectively, the “Services”).

By using any of the Services, you consent to the terms of this Policy.

 

10. Data That We Collect and Receive

When you interact with us through the Services, we may collect data from you or from other sources.  This “data” may be information that you directly provide to us, such as personal information you provide when you visit the Services, or information that is passively or automatically collected from you, such as anonymous information collected from your browser or device.

The data we collect consists of:

• Data that you provide directly when you register for, or use, the Services.  This data will vary, but typically consists of name, email address, phone number and other similar contact data.  We also receive data from the communications you send to us, such as appointment requests, customer service inquiries and other feedback regarding the Services.
• User credentials, such as username, password, password hints and similar security information used to create an account and authenticate users of the Services.
• Demographic data, such as age, gender, country and language preference.
• Payment data, such as credit card information and billing address.
• Device data, such as type of device, operating system and other software installed on the device, device settings, IP address, device identifiers and error reports.
• Usage data, such as the programs and features you access, items you purchase, and the timing, frequency and duration of your interactions through the Services.
• Location data, such as IP addresses received from your device.
• Information about your preferences, such as your home city or your communication preferences. In addition to what you provide directly, we may infer your interests and preferences from other data we collect such as the content and advertisements you interact with while using the Services.
• Third party integrations.  If you connect your use of the Services through a third-party service (e.g., a social media platform), the third party may share certain information from your third-party account with us.
• Other third-party data, such as data from our affiliates, partners or vendors, data brokers or public sources.

 

11. How We Use Data

We use the data we collect for the following purposes:

Operating our business.  We use the data we collect to operate our business, including providing and improving the Services.  Specifically:

• To fulfill transactions that you request.
• To deliver location-based Services and comply with territorial restrictions.
• To diagnose and fix problems with the Services and providing other customer support services.
• For analytical purposes to better understand our fans and how they use the Services, which allows us to continually improve and expand the Services.
• To build predictive models, which allow us to tailor the Services based on the data we have about how our fans use the Services.

Communicating with you.  We use the data we collect to communicate with you, including responding to your requests or inquiries.  Specifically:

• To respond to your request if you contact us with a question or concern.
• To provide information about your account, your use of the Services or other transactions that you request.
• To deliver appointment updates and other types of communications, according to your alerts and other preferences.

Marketing and advertising.  We use the data we collect for marketing or advertising purposes, on behalf of ourselves.  Specifically:

• To send you promotional messages and deliver advertisements about products, services, programs or events that may be of interest to you.  These may be offered by, or on behalf of, AHEC West, or by our partners and other third parties with whom we have a relationship.

The promotional messages and advertisements that you see may be determined by data that we collect or receive about you, such as your demographic data, location data, usage data, interests and preferences.  We refer to this as “interest-based advertising”.

Security, compliance and enforcement.  We use the data we collect for security, compliance and enforcement purposes.  Specifically:

• To protect the safety and security of our clients and our Services.
• To detect and prevent abuse, fraud or other unlawful or unauthorized activities.
• To resolve disputes.
• To enforce our agreements, including our policies and terms of service that govern your use of the Services.

We may also use your data in any other manner as disclosed at the time of collection, or when we have otherwise obtained consent.  Please also note that this Policy is not intended to place any limits on what we do with aggregated, pseudonymized or anonymized data.

 

12. How We Share and Disclose Data

There are times when the data we collect may be shared by AHEC West.  We share your data for the following purposes:

Providing the Services.  We sometimes engage or partner with other companies to operate the Services or perform certain functions on our behalf – for example, delivering messages and advertising, operating our websites and digital platforms.  We may provide these companies with access to your data as needed for them to perform these functions in a manner consistent with this Policy.

As part of a change in business structure.  In the event of a sale, merger, acquisition, reorganization or similar event, or in contemplation of such an event (e.g., due diligence), your data may be among the transferred assets.

When necessary under certain circumstances.  We may disclose your personal data when we believe that disclosure is necessary to:

• Comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process.
• Protect the safety and security of our clients and our services
• Prevent fraud, abuse or other unlawful or unauthorized activities.
• Protect the rights or property of us or third parties, including enforcing the terms of our agreements.

We may also share your data for any other purpose as disclosed at the time of collection, or when we have otherwise obtained consent.  Please note that this Policy is not intended to limit our ability to share or disclose aggregated, pseudonymized or anonymized data.

 

13. What Choices You Have

You have many choices about how we collect, use and share your data.

Communications choices.  You can choose whether you wish to receive promotional messages from AHEC West and which types of messages you wish to receive.  If you receive promotional messages from us and would like to opt out, you may do so by following instructions within those messages. Please note that these preferences do not apply to informational or transactional communications regarding the Services or other communications that have their own unsubscribe method.

Advertising choices.  You can opt out of interest-based advertising as described in this section and in the “Cookies and Similar Technologies” section of this Policy.  When you opt out, your selection is stored on a cookie on your device.  If you delete the cookie from that device or sign in from a different device, you will need to opt out again.

Because the data used for interest-based advertising is also used for other necessary purposes (including providing the Services and for authentication and security purposes), opting out of interest-based advertising does not stop the data from being collected nor reduce the number of advertisements you will see.  However, the data will not be used for interest-based advertising, which means the advertisements you do see may be less relevant to you.

When using a mobile application, you may receive interest-based in-application advertisements.  Depending on your device, you may be able to reset your mobile device’s advertising identifier at any time by accessing the privacy settings on your device.  In addition, each operating system (e.g., iOS for Apple devices, Android for Android devices and Windows for Microsoft devices) provides its own instructions on how to prevent the delivery of interest-based in-application advertisements.  You may review the support materials and/or the privacy settings for the respective operating system in order to opt-out of interest-based in-application advertisements.  For any other devices and/or operating systems, please visit the privacy settings for the applicable device or contact (or review the applicable privacy web page of) the applicable platform operator.

Other choices.  You also have choices about the data you provide directly to us when you register for or use the Services.  Please note, however, that if you choose not to provide data that is necessary to provide certain features of the Services, your use of the Services may not include those features.

You can access, edit or remove information in your user account by visiting https://booknow.appointment-plus.com/yd36xzdc/. If you cannot access your account, or if you would like to request that we delete other personal data referenced in this Policy, you may also contact us using any of the methods described in the “How to Contact Us” section of this Policy.

You can choose not to share certain location data by adjusting the settings on your device.  Please note, however, that if you choose not to share this data, you may not be able to access or use location-based Services.

You can choose to limit the data that third-party services (e.g., social media platforms) share with us using the options provided to you by the applicable third-party service (for example, the options provided by a third-party social media platform when you connect your social media account with the Services).  You can also disconnect your use of the Services from the third-party service at any time using the options provided to you by the applicable third-party service.  Please note, however, that if you disconnect from the third-party service, that will not delete the data we may have previously collected while you were connected.

 

14. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies (collectively, “Tracking Technologies”) to provide the Services and to collect data.  In addition, third parties may also use Tracking Technologies when you use the Services; for example, if we engaged a third party to operate the Services, or because the Services contain content or advertisements delivered by third parties.  These Tracking Technologies consist of:

• Cookies.  Cookies are small text files that are unique to your device or browser.  They can either be session-based (i.e., lasting only while your browser is open and automatically deleted when you close your browser) or persistent (i.e., lasting until you delete them or they expire).
• Locally stored objects.  Locally stored objects (“LSOs”), also commonly called “Flash cookies,” are stored on your device or browser to provide Services that use Adobe Flash technology.
• Web beacons.  “Web beacons” or clear GIFs are small pieces of code placed on a Service to collect data about users of that Service.
• Software development kits.  Mobile Software Development Kits (“SDKs”) are bits of computer code used by mobile app developers to enable or enhance various features of a mobile app.  For example, an app developer may include an SDK within a mobile app that enables advertisements to be shown, data to be collected, and related services or analytics to be performed in connection with the mobile app.

We use Tracking Technologies for the following purposes:

• Sign-in/authentication.  When you sign into your account to use the Services, we use Tracking Technologies to store your sign-in information.  This allows the Services to remember your user preferences and give you a more tailored experience based on those preferences.  It also allows you to use the Services without having to sign-in on each page or each time you return.
• Security.  We use Tracking Technologies to help detect fraud and abuse of the Services, including attempts to access the Services without authorization.
• Analytics.  We use Tracking Technologies to gather usage and performance data about the Services, including counting the number of unique visitors to a particular Service.
• Advertising.  We use Tracking Technologies to track how many users have seen or clicked on an advertisement.  This allows us to learn which advertising campaigns are most effective and also to help limit the number of times a user is shown the same advertisement.
• Interest-based advertising.  We use Tracking Technologies to collect information about your interests so that we can deliver advertising that is most relevant to your interests.
• Tailoring the Services.  We use Tracking Technologies to collect information about how you use the Services so that we can tailor your experience based on what is most relevant to your interests.

In some cases, we may work with third parties (for example, third party operators of the Services) to synchronize our unique, anonymous identifiers (such as those associated with Tracking Technologies) with the third party’s own identifiers.  This enables us to better achieve each of the purposes described above.

Managing Tracking Technologies.  Most web browsers give you the ability to manage Tracking Technologies used on a website, including blocking or deleting them.  Please note that if you choose to block Tracking Technologies, you may not be able to use certain features that depend on those Tracking Technologies (such as keeping you signed in or remembering your preferences).  If you choose to delete Tracking Technologies, any settings and preferences that were associated with those Tracking Technologies will also be deleted and may need to be reset.

You also have the following options to manage Tracking Technologies and opt out of interest-based advertising:

• For Flash cookies, you can access Flash management tools from Adobe’s website.  In addition, some, but not all, browsers provide the ability to remove LSOs within cookie and privacy settings.
• You may opt-out of interest-based advertising by adjusting your device or browser settings.

Please note that opting out of interest-based advertising does not mean you will stop seeing, or see fewer, advertisements.  It does, however, mean that the advertisements you do see will not be interest-based and may be less relevant to your interests.

Some browsers have incorporated “Do Not Track” features that send an automated signal to the websites that you visit using that browser.  At this time, the Services do not recognize or respond to these signals.  However, you can adjust your preferences regarding the data we collect using the tools and methods described above.

 

15. Security of Data

AHEC West takes security seriously.  We take a number of steps to protect your data from unauthorized access, use or disclosure.  These steps take into account the sensitivity of the data we collect and use, as well as the current state of technology.  This includes, for example, storing your data on systems that have limited access and are maintained in controlled facilities.  We also use, and require our vendors to use, industry standard security protocols.

It is important to remember that no system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.  We recommend that you help us keep your data safe by taking reasonable steps such as keeping your passwords private and not disclosing sensitive personal data in places that can be accessed publicly.

 

16. Third Party Sites and Sections

We work with a number of third parties to operate the Services.  When we engage third parties in connection with operating the Services, those third parties may only collect, use or access your data as needed for them to perform these functions.  These third parties include:

• StormSource LLC d.b.a AppointmentPlus.  We have engaged Appointment Plus to provide online appointment scheduling and appointment reminder services to our clients. Information provided to Appointment Plus is used solely for the purpose appointments and reminders and is not shared without your express permission.
• Aunt Bertha/Path2Help.  AHEC West participates in a regional effort known as “Path2Help.” Path2Help uses the online resource known as Aunt Bertha which is designed to connect our clients to services, resources, and information for a variety of issues. Use of Aunt Bertha will require AHEC West to collect and use your health and other protected information. AHEC West will gather separate written consent prior to collecting information for use with Aunt Bertha.*This list may be updated from time-to-time, so please check back periodically to keep up-to-date.

These third parties are only authorized to use your data as permitted under this Policy, or as disclosed to you at the time your data is collected.  Please note, however, that these third parties may supplement data collected or received in connection with the Services with data they collect or receive through other websites, platforms and services, in accordance with the policies and disclosures posted on those websites, platforms and services.

The Services may also contain links to, or integrations with, other websites, platforms or services that are not operated or controlled by AHEC West (each a “Third-Party Site,” and collectively, the “Third-Party Sites”).  Please note that this Policy does not apply to those Third-Party Sites.  For more information on how those Third-Party Sites collect, use and share data, we suggest that you contact the operators of those Third-Party Sites directly.

 

17. Storing Data

Personal data collected by AHEC West may be stored and processed in the region in which it is collected.  We take steps to ensure that the data we collect under this Policy is stored and processed in accordance with this Policy regardless of where the data is located.  By providing personal data in connection with the Services, you acknowledge and agree that such personal data may be transferred from your current location to the offices and servers of AHEC West and our authorized third-party service providers located in the United States.  Our practice when transferring personal data is to rely on standard data protection contract clauses or individual consent.

We retain personal data for as long as necessary to provide the Services and fulfill the transactions you have requested, or for other necessary purposes such as complying with our legal obligations, resolving disputes and enforcing our agreements.  Because these factors vary for different types of personal data, actual retention periods may vary.  The criteria we use to determine the appropriate retention periods include:

• How long is the personal data needed to provide the Services?  This is the baseline for most data retention periods.
• Do users expect that we will retain the personal data until they affirmatively remove it?  For example, if a user is able to directly access, edit or remove the personal data at any time, we may maintain the data until the user affirmatively removes it.
• Is the personal data of a sensitive type?  If so, a shortened data retention period will generally apply.
• Has the user provided consent for a longer retention period?  If so, we will retain the data in accordance with the user’s consent.
• Are we subject to a legal, contractual or similar obligation to retain the personal data?  If so, we will retain the data in accordance with our obligations.

 

18. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may change this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our business, the Services, or our practices and procedures.  If we do make changes, we will post any changes on this page and indicate the date on which the Policy was last revised.  We encourage you to review this Policy periodically, especially before you provide personal data directly to us through the Services.  Your continued use of the Services after any changes to this Policy are in effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy.

 

19. How to Contact Us

Although we strive to make this Policy as comprehensive as possible, we know you may still have questions or concerns about how we collect, use and share data.  If you have a question, concern or complaint regarding our data privacy practices, you may contact us by any of the following methods:

• By writing to us at 39 Baltimore Street, Suite 201, Cumberland MD 21502, Attn: Compliance Officer;
• By sending an email to compliance@ahecwest.org; or
• By calling us at 301-777-9150 x115.