Website privacy policy

Blue Cross knows how important your privacy is to you and maintains standards for the protection of your privacy over the Internet. This Privacy Statement explains the types of information Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and its family of companies ("Blue Cross") may obtain about visitors to our website (Site), how we use or disclose the information,and the measures we take to protect the privacy of your information. Blue Cross obtains information about its members from many sources, for example, from the bills a member's doctor submits and the enrollment form a member or his/her employer submits. However, this Online Privacy Statement is only about the information we obtain through this Site. For information on Blue Cross's privacy practices concerning any identifiable health information about you, go to Blue Cross's Notice of Privacy Practices.

If you have questions about this Privacy Statement or security at our Site, Blue Cross can be contacted by mail at 500 Exchange Street, Providence, Rhode Island, 02903-2699, attention Web Services, or by phone at (401) 459-1000 or 1-800-830-1444.

Collection of information from site visitors

Blue Cross does not collect personally identifiable information from Site visitors unless they voluntarily and explicitly provide it, for example, by sending e-mail to us, responding to information requests, or filling out online registration forms or surveys. You can visit our website without sharing personal information. However, in some instances, we need information from you, such as your name, zip code or other personal information in order to respond to your inquiry, communicate with you, or allow access to special member sections of our Site. Blue Cross will indicate which information is necessary to fulfill your request and which information may be submitted on a voluntary basis. Blue Cross' web server may automatically collect and/or track anonymous user information such as the name of your Internet provider, files downloaded, search engine used, operating system (e.g., Macintosh or Windows), and type of Web browser. We also collect aggregate, non-identifiable information on search requests and on those pages visitors access. Blue Cross may place Internet "cookies" on visitors' hard drives. Internet cookies save data about individual visitors while within our Site. When the visitor revisits the Blue Cross Site, Blue Cross may recognize the visitor by the Internet cookie and customize the visitor's experience accordingly. Visitors may decline Internet cookies, if any, by using the appropriate feature of their Web client software, if available. However, a visitor declining cookies may be unable to use some features of this Site.

Use of personally identifiable information collected

Personally identifiable information collected by Blue Cross through this Site will be used for the reason for which you voluntarily submit the information. In addition, individually identifiable information, such as names, postal and e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and other personal information which visitors voluntarily provide to Blue Cross may be added to the Blue Cross databases and used for future calls and mailings regarding site updates, new Blue Cross health products and services, and upcoming events. If you send us your comments or questions via e-mail, we will share your communications with our customer service representatives and those employees most capable of addressing your questions and concerns. We will retain your communication until we have done our very best to provide you with a complete and satisfactory response and then we will either discard it or, in some cases, archive it.

Disclosure of personal data to third parties

In some situations, Blue Cross may disclose information we obtain through this Site to our agents (third parties who provide services on our behalf), to enable them to perform functions for us. However, these agents are contractually obligated to maintain the confidentiality of any data received in conformity with Blue Cross privacy policies, state laws and Federal laws. Further, these agents may only use and disclose information for the purposes of providing services on behalf of Blue Cross.

Security and confidentiality of this site

Blue Cross takes precautions to protect information our members submit to us via this Site. When we ask users to enter personal information, we use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption. The same procedures apply when users ask to see any of their personal information that we maintain. Please be advised, however, that any unencrypted communication or material transmitted to or from Blue Cross via this Site or unencrypted e-mail may not be secure. Accordingly, Blue Cross is not responsible for the security of information transmitted via the Internet or other global computer networks. To protect your privacy, please do not use unencrypted e-mail or unencrypted transmissions to communicate information to us that you consider to be confidential. For more private communication, visitors can contact Blue Cross at the address or telephone number listed above.

Links

This Site contains links to other websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our Site and to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information. This Privacy Statement applies solely to information collected by this Site.

Blue Cross's right to change this online privacy statement

Blue Cross reserves the right to change this Online Privacy Statement at any time and will use reasonable efforts to notify visitors of the existence and location of the new or revised Online Privacy Statement. Any change to this Privacy Statement shall be effective as to any visitor that has accepted the Blue Cross Web Site Terms and Conditions before the change was made. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Blue Cross will comply with the requirements of any applicable law in notifying its members of changes in its Online  Privacy Statement.