Web Site Privacy, Terms of Use, & Legal Notice
Privacy Policy
• Use of cookies
• Security
• Members under 12 years of age
• E-mail
• Links to third party websites
• Providers
• Effective date
• Contact Information
Terms of Use and Legal Information
• Ownership and use of this site
• Providers, confidential health information and legal compliance
• Links to third party websites
• No legal, medical or other advice
• Not an offer to sell products
• Changes to terms of use and legal information
PRIVACY POLICY
At Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT), we respect the privacy of everyone who visits our website, and are dedicated to protecting consumer privacy on the internet. The information we receive about you depends on what you do when you visit our site. We will not collect or retain any personal information about you unless you choose to provide it to us. The information below is an overview of how BCBSVT handles information you provide on this site.
USING THIS SITE CONFIRMS YOUR CONSENT AND AGREEMENT TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY, INCLUDING COLLECTION, USE AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION BY BCBSVT AS DESCRIBED HEREIN. YOUR USAGE ALSO SIGNIFIES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF AND COMPLIANCE WITH OUR TERMS OF USE AND LEGAL NOTICE.
Use of cookies:
A cookie is a mechanism that permits a web server to send small pieces of information or text through your browser. This information or text allows the server to identify frequent visitors to individual websites. BCBSVT will place a cookie on your computer that will allow us to identify you as a user and will permit you to access your confidential information on this site. If you set up your browser to refuse cookies, you will not be able to access the pages on this site that contain confidential information. Once you log-off this site and close your browser, the cookie will expire. Our cookies are not used to track your activity on any site other than BCBSVT.com, nor will they be utilized to send unsolicited e-mail or provide us with any personally identifiable information.
Security:
BCBSVT is committed to protecting and maintaining the confidentiality of users personal non-public information. When users submit personal non-public information to BCBSVT, the information is protected both online and off-line.
Our site uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology, which may be updated from time to time, to protect all information entered or obtained on our site. The SSL protocol provides authentication, encryption and privacy on the Internet. SSL encrypts all transmitted information and also verifies the identity of the server to ensure that the original message is transmitted safely.
Your password provides very important protection for your personal information. Once you register to use our member pages, we will mail your password to you at the address we currently have on file. To maintain the security of your information, do not share your password with anyone else and be sure to follow other standard security protocols such as regularly changing your password and remembering to logoff our site whenever you leave your PC or have finished your session. It is your responsibility to protect the privacy of your password. If you suspect the privacy of your password has been compromised, please either change your password immediately or contact our Customer Assistance Process (CAP) at (802) 371-3636 or by e-mail at CAP@bcbsvt.com. A BCBSVT employee will never ask you for your password.
Our site also keeps a log of the time and date you enter the site and the pages you visit. This log will not track your personal information. The log is primarily to ensure that we are able to identify inappropriate access and to make our site more accessible to you.
In addition to the web security measures discussed above, BCBSVT also has internal policies in place to protect personal information maintained at our facilities. All BCBSVT employees receive confidentiality training and are required to sign confidentiality statements when they are hired. Employees cannot discuss customer information with other employees unless it is necessary to coordinate care or benefits for our customers. All employees must comply with BCBSVT's standards, which include measures to protect your confidential information.
The electronic information we have about you is secured on our private computer systems. Employees are granted access to those areas of the systems network containing personal health information only if such access is necessary for the employee to perform his or her job function. Department directors determine the level of access that employees need in order to perform their duties. All systems are password protected, and passwords are changed periodically to prevent unauthorized access. Servers that store confidential information are kept in a secure environment to which only authorized personnel have access.
Members under 12 years of age:
BCBSVT often covers minor dependents through their parent or legal guardian's health plan. Children under the age of 12 can access our site as guests. Should they wish to use a service or feature available through our site (i.e. obtain information on our member pages), we require that they do so with the permission of their legal guardian (i.e. user name and password of parent or legal guardian).
A parent or legal guardian of a dependent under the age of 12 will have access to personal health information of that minor child. In accordance with state and federal law, access to the personal health information of minors over the age of 12 by a parent or legal guardian will be permitted only with the authorization of that minor child (i.e. user name and password of minor child). A minor child may choose to share their user name and password with their parent or legal guardian.
E-mail:
You should not send an e-mail that contains personally identifiable information, such as your Subscriber ID, to BCBSVT, because the security of internet e-mail cannot be guaranteed. Our site provides a secure alternate means to communicate with BCBSVT.
When you use the e-mail function from our member pages, a notice is sent to a customer service representative at our offices that indicates an e-mail message has been posted on this site. The e-mail is protected by a password and only certain employees will be able to access it. A customer service representative will respond to the e-mail inquiry and a notice will be sent to you indicating that a response has been posted. In order to view the response, you will need to use your User ID and Password to login to the member page and view the information. Neither the notice sent to BCBSVT nor the notice sent to you will contain any personal information. This means of communicating protects your privacy.
When using e-mail or on-line forms to correspond with BCBSVT, we may save the content of your e-mail, your e-mail address, and our response so that we can more effectively handle any questions you may have. All e-mail (containing PHI) posted to and forms completed via this site are secured through SSL and secured email as discussed above.
Links to third party websites:
Our site offers direct links to websites not controlled by BCBSVT. We provide these links because we think they might be useful or of interest to you, but BCBSVT does not assume responsibility for the privacy practices or the content of those websites. The information you provide on our site is not transferred to those websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of those sites.
Providers:
This site contains personally identifiable health information of our members that is sensitive and confidential. Only those health care providers with the express permission of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont may access this site. Providers may not obtain information about any member who is not their patient. Providers must make every effort to obtain only the minimum amount of information necessary to achieve the purpose of this site, that is, to check claims status or member eligibility or to enter or review referrals.
Effective date:
This Website Privacy Policy is effective as of October 8, 2004. BCBSVT reserves the right to change or update this Privacy Policy and our internal privacy policies and procedures at any time. All changes made to this Privacy Policy and our internal privacy policies and procedures will be effective for all personal health information that we maintain, including personal health information we created or received before we made changes to this policy. Any changes made to our Privacy Policy will be posted on this site. Please review our Privacy Policy on a regular basis to review any changes.
Contact us:
Questions regarding BCBSVT's Privacy Policy may be directed to our Privacy Officer by mailing your inquiry to: Privacy Officer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont, P.O. Box 186, Montpelier, VT 05601.
TERMS OF USE AND LEGAL NOTICE
This site is offered to you, the user, conditioned upon your acceptance of the terms, conditions, and notices contained herein. Your use of this site constitutes your acceptance and agreement to all such terms, conditions, and notices. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions of use, you may not access or otherwise use this site. Your use of this site is also subject to all additional disclaimers and caveats that may appear throughout this site.
Ownership and use of this site:
This site is owned and operated by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT). All data or information contained on this site is and shall remain the exclusive property of BCBSVT. By using this site, you agree to respect the ownership rights and rules of use of BCBSVT, including the right of BCBSVT to monitor this site at any time and the right of BCBSVT to process, retain, copy, and subject to our Privacy Policy and applicable laws and regulations, use and disclose any information you may provide to BCBSVT through this site.
This site and all information provided herein is protected by copyright (). Unless expressly authorized in this Ownership section, no information found on this site may be copied, reproduced, published, uploaded, posted, transmitted or distributed in any way without prior written permission of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont.
You are authorized to download any BCBSVT data on this site for your own personal use, provided you do not use the BCBSVT data for any commercial purpose, and do not remove, mask or obscure any copyright, trademark, service mark, patent or other intellectual property rights notices or symbols set forth in the BCBSVT data.
Limitation of liability:
This site and its information and resources are provided as reference material and are not intended to replace any documents that govern your plan. You understand and agree that BCBSVT is not responsible or liable for any claim, loss, or damage directly or indirectly resulting from your use of this site or the information or the resources contained on or accessible through this site.
BCBSVT will attempt to keep the information and resources on (or accessible through) this site timely and accurate, but makes no guarantees, and disclaims any implied warranty or representation, about its accuracy, relevance, timeliness, completeness, or appropriateness for a particular purpose. The most recent version of a document supercedes all prior versions. BCBSVT reserves the right to modify this document and other documents maintained on this site without notice to you.
THE SITE AND ITS CONTENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. BCBSVT DOES NOT WARRANT THAT USE OF THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS, IF ANY, WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT EITHER THE SITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE TO YOU IS FREE OF VIRUSES, DISABLING DEVICES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. BCBSVT DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE MATERIALS ON THE SITE IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY OR OTHERWISE. YOU (AND NOT BCBSVT) ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION RELATED TO ANY DAMAGE, HARM, INJURY OR MALFUNCTION ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND/OR ITS CONTENTS.
Under no circumstances, including but not limited to negligence by act or omission, shall BCBSVT or any party involved in creating, producing or delivering the site be liable for any direct, incidental, consequential, indirect or punitive damages that result from the use of or the inability to use the materials on the site, even if BCBSVT or a representative authorized by the BCBSVT has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Applicable law may not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability or incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you. In no event, however, shall BCBSVT's total liability to you for all damages, losses and causes of action exceed the amount paid by you, if any, for accessing this site.
Providers, confidential health information and legal compliance:
The services provided through this site may enable users and/or their duly appointed agents to transmit, store and receive certain confidential health information. State or federal laws, as well as ethical or licensure requirements of the medical profession, may impose obligations with respect to patient confidentiality that limit the ability of physicians, health care providers, and persons acting on their behalf, to make use of certain services or to transmit certain information to third parties. You represent and warrant that you will, at all times during the term of this Agreement and thereafter, comply with all laws directly or indirectly applicable to you that may now or hereafter govern the gathering, use, transmission, processing, receipt, reporting, disclosure, maintenance, and storage of such confidential health information, and use your best efforts to cause all persons or entities under your direction or control to comply with such laws.
You are, at all times during the term of this Agreement and thereafter, solely responsible for obtaining and maintaining all patient consents and all other legally necessary consents or permissions required or advisable to disclose, process, retrieve, transmit, and view the health information you transmit, store or receive in connection with this site or the services provided herein.
Links to third party websites:
If you use any links provided in the site to websites not owned, maintained nor hosted by BCBSVT, you will leave the site. BCBSVT is not responsible for the privacy policies or terms of use associated with these websites. No judgment or warranty is made with respect to the accuracy, timeliness or suitability of the content of any of these websites, and BCBSVT takes no responsibility for such sites. A link to a service or website outside of this site is not an endorsement of the service or the website, its content or its sponsoring organization.
No legal, medical or other advice offered or intended:
You understand and agree that nothing contained in this site or the information contained herein is intended or shall be construed as any kind of advice or counseling to you. This site does not offer legal advice, medical advice, health advice, nor any other form of advice or counseling. In making any decisions regarding any matter addressed in this site, you should not rely on BCBSVT or the information contained herein for advice as to laws or regulations, or your financial, physical or mental well-being or general health or nutrition. Regardless of any material contained on this site or the information herein, you should always consult your own physician on any medical matters, and your own attorney on any legal or regulatory matters.
Not an offer to sell products:
Information on this site does not constitute an offer to sell or promote products. BCBSVT products are only available in Vermont. If you live outside of Vermont, please call your local Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plan office for availability of coverage in your state. More information is available at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's Website, www.bcbs.com.
Changes to documentation:
BCBSVT may change or modify the information, materials, and any other resources contained on or accessible through this site, or discontinue this site altogether, at any time without notice.
BCBSVT may modify this agreement at any time, and such modifications shall be effective immediately upon posting of the modified agreement. Accordingly, you agree to review this agreement periodically, and your continued use of this site shall be deemed your acceptance of the modified agreement.