Information Collection and Use

We collect information through our online contact form, which is authorized by you when you voluntarily provide this information. We require that you provide us with certain specific personal information while also offering you choices for providing other information. You may decline to provide us with the required information, although our online contact form may not function properly as a result. Providing the required information enables us to contact you with tailored information we provide back to you. We do not disclose personally identifiable information to third parties under any circumstances. Any contact, whether through the online form, phone calls, letters or any other means are recorded in a secure database. This database is used to collect and provide aggregated, non-personal information to funding organizations for grant purposes and to our Board of Directors. The provided information does not identify users, their contact information or personal medical informaton and is collected as statistical information only. We strictly adhere to the National Standards to Protect the Privacy of Personal Health Information.

Protecting Your Personal Information

We protect your personal information by limiting access to employees who have a reasonable need to view it.

We have physical, technical, procedural and contractual safeguards in place to protect your personal information.

Know who you are giving your information to. You can protect personal information by providing it to entrusted sites. We provide you with additional ways of contacting us, either through our phone number or address listed on our contact form. We also provide you with several links to our other sites where you can learn more about us.

Email Communication and Website Usage

Email communication will be initiated by you when you conact us either through our email address or our online form. All email communications are directed to the mailbox of our teratogen information specialist. Your email address will only be used by the PRN staff to contact you regarding a request you have made. We do not sell email addresses, nor will we contact you for any other reasons unless you have made a specific request.

Every time you visit a Ferre Institute web site, our servers automatically recognize your ISP domain name, but not your email address. This means our servers can identify "where" you're from, but not "who" you are. We may compile aggregate statistics about Web site visitors, traffic patterns and related site information, but these statistics include no Personally Identifiable information. We also do not use cookies on our site. Once you have used a link on our site to go to another site you should view their privacy policy in regards to their use of cookies; we cannot vouch for their use of cookies and in particular the placement of any third party tracking cookies by sponsors, advertisers or other parties.

Advertising Policy

Our mission is to provide you with accurate and current information. We do not have advertisements, sponsorships or links to any products on our site. We do not endorse productsor companies although we do link to other teratogen information services, which are members of OTIS, to assist you in locating a service within your area. We provide medical information on our site and offer a free service providing tailored information to consumers and health care providers who initiate contact through our online contact form. We also make available our phone number for the purpose of making appointments within our office. A link to another site does not imply approval or endorsement of material on that site.

HIPAA

All phone calls and consultations will remain confidential as pursuant to the United States Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). If you were referred by your physician for a genetics consultation, then only that physician will receive information regarding your visit. No other individuals will be notified of your appointment without your written request. If you are calling or use any other form of correspondence to learn more about our Heart and Genes Program, your request will remain confidential.