At the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network, your privacy is important to us. This Website Privacy Policy (“Policy”) outlines the information gathering and dissemination practices we follow and your rights as a user of our website. This Policy applies to the information gathered or disseminated by Froedtert Health, Inc. and its affiliates including, but not limited to: Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, Inc., Community Memorial Hospital of Menomonee Falls, Inc., St. Joseph’s Community Hospital of West Bend, Inc., Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Community Physicians, Inc., West Bend Surgery Center, LLC, Froedtert Surgery Center, LLC, and Inception Health, LLC.
Scope
This pledge applies to all information we collect in the United States through our website. For the purposes of this Policy, “websites” includes our mobile applications.
For our privacy practice relating to your protected health information, please refer to our Joint Notice of Privacy Practice located separately on our website.
What Information We Collect
When you visit our website, we may collect two types of information: personal information you provide if you interact with us in any way, including signing up for our newsletters or filling out a "Contact Us" form, and website-use data that is automatically collected as you browse our site.
Personal Information You Choose to Provide
If you choose to communicate with us, you will be asked to provide your name, address, phone number, e-mail address (under "contact information") and other optional information, such as your age. Additionally, if you correspond with us by e-mail, we may also save the contents of your messages, as well as your e-mail address and our replies to your inquiries. Your answers to any surveys or questionnaires on our website might be retained too, so that we can adjust the information we provide or improve our services for you.
Website-Use Information
Along with the information you choose to provide us with, our website automatically collects information as you browse. Some examples include:
- “Cookies,” which are small text files that a website or e-mail may place on your browser and store on your hard drive. These cookies allow us to recognize you as you use or return to our site. You may choose to browse our website without accepting cookies. Please note that cookies allow us to recognize you from page to page and, without cookies enabled, you may not be able to complete certain transactions on our website.
- Web server logs collect data about how our site is being accessed and used. This technical information includes your internet protocol address, your device operating system, your browser type and the path you took to the site and during your visit.
- Web beacons allow us to know if a certain page was visited, an e-mail was opened, or if ad banners on other sites were effective.
How We Use Your Personal Information
We recognize the importance of privacy. We do not sell or lease your personal information. We use your contact information to respond to your questions or to send you material and information you request, as well as to help us determine ways to restructure the website so it better serves you.
We may also use it to notify you of changes to our website or new services we think you may be interested in. You may elect not to receive these communications, either when you initially register as a member with our site or at any time thereafter.
We also use your website information in order to help identify problems with our website. We may use all information we collect to analyze statistical use patterns and demographic data, including where our visitors come from and what demographic characteristics they have and to improve our website to better serve our customers.
We participate in internet-based advertising. This means that we may use information about how you browse our website and others to help us improve our service offerings, websites and advertising.
Disclosing Your Personal Information to Others
We may share your personal information among our affiliates as necessary to provide you with the information and services you requested. Except in the limited circumstances listed, we do not provide unaffiliated third parties with personal information about our website visitors.
These circumstances may include:
- We may disclose information about you if and when we believe it is necessary to comply with any law, rule, or court order or subpoena; to enforce our legal rights or the rules of this website; or to protect our business, property and operations.
- We may prepare and keep statistical records and other data about you and users of our site, but we do it in a way that does not identify you or any other user personally.
- We may hire third parties to help us collect and analyze such data, and we may share such statistical data with third parties. Such statistical data will not specifically identify you or any other user.
Use of Cookies
Cookies are small bits of information generated by our web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. Cookies can remember what information a user accesses on a web page to simplify subsequent visits by the same user.
We use cookies to recognize you as a repeat visitor and to provide certain features that make your use of our website more efficient.
These cookies are not required to use the Web site in any manner and are only an option to make your browsing easier. If you would not like to receive cookies, you may decline by adjusting the browser settings on your computer.
Your Choices
You may exercise choices regarding our online operations and advertising. You may choose to browse our website without accepting cookies. Each web browser has settings allowing its users to turn off cookies.
You may also opt out of certain internet-based advertising that uses your data to generate ads that are based on your browsing behavior. The goal of this type of advertising, often called “interest-based” or “online behavioral advertising” is to show you ads that are tailored to your interests.
We participate in the AdChoices program, which was created and is managed exclusively by the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”). The DAA is a consortium of the leading national advertising and marketing associations, which have joined together to help ensure the responsible use of consumer information in interest-based advertising. You can learn more about this program, including ways to opt-out.
User Login
If you register at our website and select a password, you must remember to keep your log-in and password a secret. If you share those with others, or store them in or around your computer in a way that others may easily access them, then your personal information may also be accessible to them without your knowledge or authorization.
We have no control over your use of your log-in ID and password, and we cannot tell if someone is using them without your permission. As such, we can only advise you to please exercise common sense and practical judgment to protect your privacy. You should change your password periodically just for safety, and if you think somebody has learned your password, you should change it immediately.
It is very important to note that no one at Froedtert & the Medical College will ever ask you for your password.
Links to Other Sites
On our website, we may create links to other websites that we think may be of interest to you or provide further information. Please note these are only suggestions, and we do not endorse any other websites.
We have not reviewed the privacy policies of any websites we link to; you should exercise care when visiting any other website. We would like to hear from you if you find any websites linked to ours objectionable.
Your Consent and Permission
By using our website, you consent to our collection and use of your personal information as described in this Policy. We want to make every effort to keep you informed and aware of how we are protecting your privacy and the ways in which your personal information is used.
Thus, if we change our Policy, we will post those changes on our website to keep you up-to-date on what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we may disclose it.
Asking Your Permission
It is our policy to always ask permission prior to retaining personal information or addresses of those using this website. Site features with high functionality often require that you register in order to access the feature and the information you have provided. In such cases, it is our policy to provide a mechanism that allows the user to opt out of the feature at any time in the future.
Your Right to Object
If you believe we are using your personal identity information in a way that is not authorized in this Policy, please contact us at once.
You can visit our Compliance Reporting Website at froedterthotline.ethicspoint.com, call us at 833-942-0798 or write us at:
Froedtert Health Compliance Department
N74 W12501 Leatherwood Court
Menomonee Falls, WI 53051
We will promptly investigate and take corrective action if we find that we have not been following our Policy.