At Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), we are committed to protecting the privacy and security of visitors to our website. This website privacy statement ("Privacy Statement") will tell you what information we collect on our website and how it is used. By using this website, you agree to this statement. Please read the following carefully:
Your Consent
By using our website, you consent to the collection, use and sharing of information as described in this Privacy Statement.
Information We Collect
You may use our website without providing any personal information. However, if you complete any forms on our website, we may ask for additional information such as your name, email address, phone/text number(s) or demographic information.
By submitting personal information, you grant CHA the right to transmit, monitor, retrieve, store and use your information in connection with the operation of the website. If you submit any personal information to CHA about other people, you represent that you have the authority to do so and permit us to use the information in accordance with this Privacy Statement.
How CHA Communicates with Patients Using Emails and Texts
CHA wants to communicate directly with you about your care and uses email and text messages to do so. By providing us with an email address and/or a mobile/text number, you expressly consent to enrolling in CHA’s patient notification program and consent to receive messages about your care and CHA services. The frequency and number of these patient notifications will depend on your appointment schedule and other care needs. For example, you might receive emails/texts about:
- Appointment reminders
- Management of telehealth appointments
- Messages advising you of health care needs, such as preventive care tests or exams, scheduling appointments you need, new information related to your health, etc.
- Instructions in advance of an inpatient procedure, both before and after you have been admitted
- Instructions in advance of an outpatient appointment or procedure
- Instructions for follow-up care after an inpatient procedure, both before and after you have been discharged
- Requests to complete electronic forms related to your care
- Instructions for follow-up care after an outpatient procedure
- Notification regarding availability of laboratory tests or other tests ordered by your physician
- Requests for feedback about the care you received
- Other information regarding your care
CHA will not charge you for any email/text messages sent to you. However, your mobile carrier may apply message and data rates to these communications, depending on the terms of your plan. You are solely responsible for any charges related to your mobile plan.
CHA contracts with more than one third party vendor to provide these text/email communications, which means you may receive text messages from different numbers. If you wish to opt out of receiving CHA notifications from a particular third party vendor, you can text STOP in reply to a text notification from that number. If you wish to opt out of receiving CHA notifications by email, follow the instructions to Unsubscribe. After you submit a request to unsubscribe from certain communications from a particular number, you may receive a followup message to confirm your request to opt out/unsubscribe. No additional text alerts or emails will be sent to you from that vendor unless you reactivate your enrollment. To opt out of CHA patient notifications from a different vendor, you will need to separately opt-out.
The CHA patient notification system is offered on an "as is" basis and: (1) may not be available in all areas at all times; and (2) may not continue to work in the event of product, software, coverage or other service changes made by your wireless carrier. CHA may change or discontinue any of its email/text system programs without notice or liability to you. CHA and its officers, directors and employees are not responsible and shall not be liable for any losses or injuries of any kind resulting, directly or indirectly, from or in connection with your participation in the CHA patient notification program or from technical failures or delays of any kind. CHA may end or amend its patient notification program at any time in its sole discretion.
Data Security
CHA is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information you provide to us via this website to make sure it remains as secure as possible. However, CHA cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us through online applications, such as forms or email. You do so at your own risk. Depending on the nature of the inquiry, your communication could be discarded or archived. If you wish, you can contact us instead by telephone at the numbers provided throughout our website.
Newsletter/Press Release/Email Subscription
If you wish to subscribe to our newsletters and publications, we collect and store any information you share with us, such as first and last name, email address, and information about how you engage with our content. We may also ask for additional information to send you content relevant to your interests. If you want to unsubscribe from our email newsletters, please use the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of every e-mail communication.
If you receive an email that looks like it is from CHA and asks for your personal information, do not respond. This may be a scam or "Phishing" email intended to steal your information. CHA will never request your password, user name, credit card information or related personal information through email.
MyCHArt
Patients can create a CHA MyCHArt account. This is a secure way to manage your health. Features include reviewing test results, managing appointments, messaging your doctor, renewing your prescriptions and paying your bills. MyCHArt is hosted separately from the public CHA website and uses enhanced security to ensure your safety. Before creating an account, please review the Terms and Conditions on the MyCHArt website.
"Protected health information" as defined under the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act and related regulations (collectively referred to as "HIPAA"), including information you provide to a CHA facility while being treated as a patient of that facility or within the CHA Patient Portal (MyCHArt), is separate and subject to the CHA Notice of Privacy Practices.
Cookies, Tracking and Internet-based Advertising
CHA works with third-party products or services ("Service Providers"), such as Google, Facebook, and others who help us track and analyze visitor activity on our website. This lets us measure the effectiveness of our advertising efforts, and improve our digital marketing campaigns.
To learn more about how Google uses data when you visit our website, go to "How Google uses data when you use our partners' sites or apps." To learn more about how Facebook uses data from our website, visit "What kinds of information do we collect? Information from partners".
This website uses "cookies" and related technologies. These can be set by CHA or by our Service Providers. Cookies are small data files that online services can store on, and retrieve from, your computer or mobile device through your web browser. Information can be stored and retrieved during your website visit (known as "session cookies"), or at some later time (known as "persistent cookies").
Examples of information we and our Service Providers collect include how often someone visits this website and what they do while on the website. We and our Service Providers use this information in aggregate to understand how our visitors as a group use different resources and to help us improve our website. We and our Service Providers also collect information about the activity of individual website users. This information may be used to provide you with advertisements about CHA when you visit other websites.
Most internet browsers accept cookies by default, but you can modify your browser to block or restrict cookies if you do not want your web browsing activity tracked. There are tools available to manage cookies and similar technologies. Please visit (i) the FTC or (ii) the Digital Advertising Alliance opt-out page, which allows users to opt out from receiving interest-based advertising.
We are not responsible for the effectiveness or compliance of third party opt-out mechanisms or programs. Please note that if you delete your cookies or upgrade your browser after having opted out, you will need to opt out again. Further, if you use multiple browsers or devices you will need to opt out on each browser or device. You can access the information on this website without enabling cookies in your browser, but disabling cookies may result in a diminished ability to take advantage of the services and related informational content on the website.
This website also uses Google’s reCAPTCHA service to protect against spam and other automated abuse by identifying activity from an automated program such as a "bot." reCAPTCHA analyzes the behavior of website visitors as soon as the website visit begins. The data collected during this analysis, which takes place in the background, is sent to Google’s servers. The use of the reCAPTCHA service and the treatment of any information collected through the service, such as IP address, date, time, language, screen size and resolution, and mouse movements while on the page, are subject to Google’s applicable privacy policy and terms of use, as noted in the boxes where you are asked to confirm that "I’m not a robot" when submitting a form.
Our Service Providers may acquire additional information about your activity on our website, including pages you visit, access times, visit duration, how you arrived at our website and your IP address. An IP address is a number that identifies a device connected to the Internet. For most devices, the IP address changes on at least a weekly basis. Our Service Providers may also acquire device identifiers and specific information about the browser you use. In some cases, this information may be unique to you.
How We Use This Information
We may use your information to:
- Help us improve the services we offer
- Personalize your experience and inform you about the treatments/services in which you have indicated an interest
- Tailor digital advertisements on third-party websites based on your interactions on our website
- Improve our website offerings and send you information and updates
- Respond to your questions and requests and improve customer service
- Administer a promotion, survey or other site feature
- Communicate changes to our Privacy Statement or terms of use
In some cases, third parties contracted by CHA may have access to your information to perform a specific task, for example, to send you an e-newsletter.
Third-Party Vendors/ Content Providers
CHA shares information with third parties, including as required by law or in order to provide the services requested. CHA engages reputable third-party vendors to help us manage this website, provide content and information, and interact better with our patients and visitors.
Online Surveys
Occasionally we may request feedback on this website to better understand how we can improve what information we present and how we present it. These surveys do not ask questions that could personally identify you. We may ask for contact information to follow-up, but you can decline to provide that information. Information that you provide in a survey may be shared with employees or third parties to aggregate the data.
Links to External Websites
This online Privacy Statement applies only to this website. This website contains links to other websites, within and outside of CHA. Please be aware that this Privacy Statement does not apply to those websites. We encourage you to read the Privacy Statements on any other websites before providing them with personal information.
Transfer in the Event of Sale or Change of Control
If the ownership of our business changes, or we need to transfer assets relating to this website to a third party, we may transfer your personal information to the new owner. Your information would remain subject to the promises made in the applicable Website Privacy Statement unless you specify otherwise.
Changes to This Statement
CHA has the right to change or update this Website Privacy Statement from time to time without notice, so please review it periodically to keep informed of any changes. If you have questions about this Privacy Statement or concerns about how we collect, use or protect your personal information, please contact us as listed below.
Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Statement or concerns about how we collect, use or protect your personal information, please contact us at webmaster@challiance.org.
Last Revised
December 20, 2021