Springhill Medical Center (“SMC”), a trusted healthcare provider, is dedicated to the protection and respectful treatment of your personal information. As part of our commitment to delivering quality healthcare services, it is essential for us to collect and process personal information from our website visitors. This Privacy Statement details the methods by which SMC collects, manages, and processes personal information via our websites and applications.

For the sake of clarity, the term "processing" in this document encompasses the actions of collecting, using, storing, transmitting, disclosing, and destroying personal information. This Privacy Statement is applicable to all data gathered by SMC and its associated third-party service providers, which includes but is not limited to, all websites and applications that refer to this Privacy Statement.

By engaging with SMC’s websites and providing us with your personal information, you are agreeing to the practices described in this Privacy Statement.

Information Collection

Information Provided by You

While navigating through the SMC’s websites and applications, we may request that you supply us with certain personally identifiable information which can be utilized to contact or recognize you. This information might encompass, but is not limited to:

Personal details that you voluntarily offer, such as your name, postal address, telephone number, email address, and others, which may be employed to reach out to you as per your request. 

Please be assured that any personal information you submit via our contact forms, or directly through email to SMC, is only employed for the purpose for which it was provided or for any other uses explicitly stated on this site. 

Information Collected by Technology

Web Analytics Data

Upon your visit to SMC’s website(s), we automatically gather data about your interactions and usage of our website(s), such as your search queries, pages viewed, and the types of devices used to access our website(s), including computers, tablets, and smartphones. We ensure that sensitive data, including protected health information (PHI) and personally identifiable information (PII), is shared solely with business associates contracted by SMC to aid in our healthcare operations and who commit to HIPAA-compliant safeguards. Any information disseminated to third parties lacking a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with SMC is anonymized prior to sharing. The types of information collected and potentially shared when you visit SMC’s website(s) may include:

  • Total number of users
  • Differentiation between new and returning users
  • Number of sessions (the web pages visited in a single visit)
  • Length of time spent on the website(s)
  • Total page views
  • Device usage (mobile vs. desktop)
  • Types of web browsers utilized
  • Bounce rates (the percentage of sessions where visitors leave the site without any interaction)
  • Most viewed pages
  • Interactions recorded as “events,” such as downloads, video plays, and link clicks
  • Search queries performed by users on the site 

Processing Information 

Handling Personal Data

SMC processes personal information to fulfill the following objectives:

  • To deliver and maintain our services, including monitoring the usage of our services.
  • To manage your account: managing your registration as a user of the service, where the personal data you supply enables access to various service functionalities available to registered users
  • To execute a contract: the creation, observance, and completion of the purchase contract for products, items, or services you have acquired or any other contract with us through the service.
  • To communicate: To reach out to you via email, phone calls, SMS, or other equivalent forms of electronic communication, such as mobile application push notifications about service-related updates or informational communications, including security updates when necessary for their implementation.
  • To provide offers: To inform you about news, events, and general information, unless you have chosen not to receive such information.
  • To handle your inquiries: To address and manage your requests directed to us.
  • To aggregate (combine) data about visitors to our Site in a non-identifiable manner and use it for our business purposes unrelated to your use of the Site. 

Use of Cookies and Similar Technologies 

We gather information automatically using technologies like cookies and web beacons. 

Cookies: SMC employs cookies, which are small text files stored on your device, to collect information about your website navigation. Using cookies enhances your user experience by remembering your preferences. You have the option to configure your web browser to either accept or refuse cookies. Please note that disabling cookies may limit your ability to fully utilize our website’s features and services. 

Web Beacons: We utilize web beacons to gather basic analytics from visitors engaging with our websites. These small, invisible images collect information when they are loaded during your visit. Sensitive data containing personal information is shared only with business associates contracted by SMC to support our healthcare activities, and they are obliged to adhere to HIPAA-required protections. 

Web beacons function alongside cookies, so if cookies are disabled, our ability to collect unique information about you is affected. 

While our website may host links to external sites, SMC does not take responsibility for the privacy practices of other websites. We encourage users to be vigilant when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of every website that collects personally identifiable information. This Privacy Statement is applicable solely to information collected by our websites. For details on the patient portal, please refer to the specific section provided. 

Utilization of Information 

Purposes of Use 

SMC may collect and use personal information to aid in the operation of our website and ensure the delivery of the services you require and request. Occasionally, we may need to use personally identifiable information to keep you informed about services that may be of interest to you from SpringhillMedicalCenter.com. We may also contact you to participate in surveys or research questionnaires concerning your views on current or future services that we may offer. Our third-party service providers are not permitted to disclose information unless it is necessary to perform services on our behalf or to comply with legal requirements. In some cases, to provide services and support our activities, or as mandated by law, we may share your information with other departments within SMC beyond the department you originally provided it to. In such cases, the information shared will be limited to what is necessary to deliver the requested information/services or as compelled by law enforcement. 

SMC does not, nor will in the future, sell, rent, or lease any collected information. We may disclose personal information without prior notice to you if required by law and/or in a good faith belief that such action is necessary to: 

Comply with legal processes served on SMC or the website; 

Protect and defend the rights or property of SMC; and 

Act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of SpringhillMedicalCenter.com or the public. 

Retention of Information 

SMC will keep your personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes outlined in this privacy statement. We will retain and use your information to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements and policies. 

We will also keep usage data for internal analysis purposes. Usage data is generally kept for a shorter duration, except when it is necessary to enhance security, improve service functionality, or we are legally required to keep this data for longer periods. 

"Do Not Track" Preferences 

SMC acknowledges that some users may prefer a "Do Not Track" option. For more information about cookies and tracking preferences, please visit: All About Cookies and All About Do Not Track. 

Legal Obligations and Compliance 

SMC may need to disclose certain personal data if mandated by law or when responding to legitimate demands by public entities, such as courts or governmental agencies. 

Such disclosures of personal data by SMC may occur under the following conditions:

  1. To fulfill legal requirements or obligations.
  2. To safeguard and defend the rights or property of SMC.
  3. To investigate or address potential misconduct related to our services.
  4. To ensure the safety of our service users or the public.
  5. To guard against legal risks or liabilities.

Protection of Minors 

SMC does not intentionally gather personal information from individuals under the age of thirteen (13) without verifiable consent from their parents or guardians. If we discover the accidental collection of information from children under thirteen (13), immediate action will be taken to remove such data from our databases. Children under the age of thirteen (13) must obtain permission from a parent or guardian to use this website. 

Contact Information 

For any inquiries or concerns regarding our Privacy Policy as it pertains to our websites, please contact us via the following methods: 

Email: candace.matheny@springhill.org 

Phone: 251.344.9630 

Mailing Address: Springhill Medical Center c/o Compliance Officer 3719 Dauphin Street Mobile, AL 36608