We are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information.  The policies below are applicable to the www.lacare.org Website (“Website”) produced and maintained by L.A. Care Health Plan (collectively “Company” or “we”, “us”, or “our”). 

We have established this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) to let you know the kinds of personal information we may gather during your visit to the Website, why we gather your information, what we use your personal information for, and when we might disclose your personal information.

By visiting our Website, you are accepting the practices described in our Privacy Policy.  Your use of our Website and Services is also subject to our Terms and Conditions.  If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Website and exit immediately.  Your continued use of our Website means you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.   

L.A. Care Health Plan has a Notice of Privacy Practices that describes how we use and disclose protected health information; the individual’s rights to access, to request amendments, restrictions, and an accounting of disclosures of protected health information; and the procedures for filing complaints. You may click here to view the Notice of Privacy Practices.

1. Personal Information.

When you log on to our Website and communicate with us via our site, we do not collect personal information about you unless you provide it to us voluntarily. Personal information (“Personal Information”) is any information or data that is unique to an individual such as a name, social security number, address, e-mail address, birth date, etc.  Portions of our Website may allow you to provide us with Personal Information in order to deliver requested materials, products or services to you, respond to your questions, or enable to you to update information. Additionally, registration may be required and Personal Information may be collected in certain portions of the Website in which you specifically and knowingly provide such information (e.g., subscription registration, community postings (i.e., chat or bulletin boards), suggestions, or customer service requests).

2. Use of Personal Information.

Personal Information is used only for the purpose it was provided.  We do not sell, license, transmit or disclose Personal Information that you provide to us outside of L.A. Care Health Plan except when required by law, and any such disclosure of any Personal Information is performed within the parameters of applicable laws and regulations.

3. Anonymous Information.

Through your use of the Website, we may also gather certain information that does not identify you individually (“Anonymous Information”).  Generally, this information is collected through “traffic data” and may involve the use of “Cookies,” “IP Addresses” or other numeric codes used to identify a computer. 

4. Use of Anonymous Information.

We use Anonymous Information to help us determine how people use parts of the Website and who our readers are so we can improve our Website and ensure that it is as appealing as we can make it for as many people as possible.  We also use Anonymous Information to provide statistical “ratings” information in aggregated form to our partners and other third parties about how our users collectively use the our Website.  We may also use or share Anonymous Information (or other information, other than Personal Information) in any other manner that we deem appropriate or necessary.

5. Policies for Children Under 13.

We do not knowingly collect any information from persons under the age of 13.  If we learn that any persons under the age of 13 have provided information about themselves, the information will be deleted.  Our Website is designed for adults.  Our Website is not intentionally targeted to children under the age of 13.  Children under the age of 13 should not use our Website without obtaining prior parental consent. 

6. Cookies.

We may use Cookies to provide some of the services on our Website.  “Cookies” are pieces of information that a Website transfers to your computer's hard disk for record-keeping purposes.  Cookies make web-surfing easier for you by saving your passwords, purchases, and preferences while you're at our Website.  The use of Cookies is standard in the Internet industry, and many major Websites use them to provide useful features for their users.  Cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify users, although they do identify a user’s computer.  Our Website never uses Cookies to retrieve information from your computer that was not originally sent in a Cookie.  Except as described in this Privacy Policy, we do not use information transferred through Cookies for any promotional or marketing purposes, nor is that information shared with any third parties whatsoever. 

7. Internet Protocol Addresses.
An Internet Protocol Address (“IP Address”) is a number that automatically identifies the computer or machine that you are using to access the Internet. The address enables our server to send you the web pages that you want to visit. It may disclose the server owned by your Internet Service Provider. We utilize your IP Address to help diagnose problems with our server and to support our site administration.  

8. Spyware.

We never use or install spyware on your computer, nor do we use spyware to retrieve information from your computer.

9. Newsletters.

In the event that we distribute newsletters or RSS feeds, we collect e-mail addresses and may collect zip codes and other information of all users who subscribe to these publications.  Anyone who wishes to stop receiving this newsletter can, at any time, click on the “Unsubscribe” feature located within each newsletter.

10. Public Areas, Chat Rooms and Newsgroups.

Please remember that any information you share in public areas, such as message boards or feedback sections, becomes public, and therefore this Privacy Policy does not apply to any information you choose to make public.  Please be careful about what you disclose and do not post any Personal Information that you expect to keep private.

11. Third-party Agents.

We occasionally have third party agents, subsidiaries, affiliates and joint ventures that perform functions on our behalf.  These entities have access to the Personal Information needed to perform their functions and are contractually obligated to maintain the confidentiality and security of that Personal Information.  They are restricted from using or altering this data in any way other than to provide the requested services to the Website. 

12. Links to Other Websites.

This Privacy Policy applies only to the L.A. Care Health Plan site, not to other companies’ or organizations’ Websites to which we link.  These links include links from sponsors, partners and others and are beyond our control.  These other sites may send their own cookies to you, collect your data, or solicit your personal information.  Always be aware of where you end up.  We are not responsible for the actions and privacy policies of third parties and other Websites.  We encourage you to read the posted privacy statement and user terms and conditions whenever interacting with any other Website.

13. Security Policy.

The importance of security for all Personal Information associated with you is of utmost concern to us.  We exercise great care in providing secure transmission of your information from your PC to our servers.  Personal Information collected by our Website is stored in secure operating environments that are not available to the public.  We employ the use of built-in firewalls (a combination of computer hardware and software) to keep unauthorized users from accessing information through our computer network.  Only those employees who need access to your Personal Information in order to do their jobs are allowed access, each having signed confidentiality agreements. Any employee who violates our privacy and/or security policies is subject to disciplinary action, including possible termination and civil and/or criminal prosecution.

We aim to protect and keep confidential all information which is voluntarily provided to L.A. Care Health Plan through this Website, and to treat such information with the same consideration and confidentiality as any information sent to us by the US mail or communicated to us by telephone. The nature of the Internet, however, prevents us from guaranteeing the confidentiality of information we receive through the Website or via e-mail. If you wish, you may contact us instead by telephone at (213) 694-1250.

14. Communications With Our Website.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this Website, or your dealings with this Website, please contact:

Web Team
L.A. Care Health Plan
555 W. Fifth Street, 29th Floor
Los Angeles, CA  90013
mdelamare@lacare.org

15. Changes to Privacy Policy.

L.A. Care Health Plan may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. Such changes will be publicly posted in this area of the Website.