Introduction
The Center for Pathology Informatics (http://path.upmc.edu/cpi/) and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center (http://www.upci.upmc.edu/internet/benedum/) are leaders in Internet consumer health and web based professional medical education. Our policy is to respect and protect the privacy of our users. We present this policy to give you a clear understanding of how we operate our Web sites, how we collect information from you, and how it is used by us. The information you provide, whether it is when you research a topic of interest or elect to register for certain services, is personal to you. The Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center will not disclose your personal health information or the subjects that you search for while visiting our Internet services to third parties (or to any member of the Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center) without your consent or in a manner that is inconsistent with this policy.
Registration
Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center will not, under any circumstances except as described herein, disclose personal identifying information about you to any third party. When you click on "Feedback or Ask A Question" at the top of any of our pages, we record your e-mail address, the address (URL) of the page you sent the request from, and any personal comments you may add. Your e-mail address and the page URL will not be used for any other purpose than to answer your questions. Any comments you may send in the body of an e-mail message may be shared with various people at UPCI or UPMC (such as our physicians, other health care professionals, researchers, or our Internet services staff) or stored in an electronic database. Your e-mail address will not be linked to your comments in these cases, unless we deem it necessary in order to pursue legal obligations. Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center does not store either your e-mail address or the referring page URL for the purposes of distribution to commercial third parties.
About the Cytopathology Unknown Case Series
This on-line interactive, CME activity is sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences and the Department of Pathology.
The target audience for this activity is pathologists and other physicians, especially those practicing in remote and/or underserved areas. At the end of the presentations, the participants should be able to:
The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, as part of the Consortium for Academic Continuing Medical Education, is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences designates this educational activity for up to a maximum of 1.0 hour of Category 1 credit towards the AMA Physician's Recognition Award. Each physician should claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spent in the educational activity.
The authors for each case are listed on header of the appropriate cases. The pathology faculty from the University of Pittsburgh responsible for the site and for editing and reviewing cases include:
Neither The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences nor the UPMC Department of Pathology, will sell, trade, rent or share personal information to any commercial or external entity. The information collected will be used for managing and monitoring continuing medical education credits and evaluation purposes.
Aggregate Data
The Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center collects data from the Web logs of the servers -- the computers that "serve up" Web pages -- delivering the Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center -copyright-owned content sources. Although these logs include information about what visitors to the site are viewing, we combine all of the information from the log into "aggregate data" reports. These reports may be disclose to third parties or publicly posted as site statistics on specific pages on our web site. The third parties with whom we share aggregate data may include our "Information Partners," or the companies, organizations and professional societies that supply us the medical information that you access, and applicable members of the Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center. The Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center Network consists of those services and other Web sites with which Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center has an agreement to provide content. For example, if you visit us from one of the services or web sites to which we supply content, we will aggregate the data about what information you used while on the site with other visitors from that site and supply it to the sponsoring service or web site. Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center will not disclose any individually identifiable information to a third party without your express prior written authorization.
Medical Information and Minors
The information on Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center 's sites is not intended to be used by minors under the age of 13 and aspects of healthcare and case descriptions may be disturbing to minors under the age of 13. The members of the Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center encourage parents to discuss the value of healthcare information with their children. If we learn information about a specific minor, Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center will, at no time, share that information with anyone. However, because Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center does not have the ability to learn the age of a visitor, we are unable to restrict access to information that may be unsettling to some minors. If parents have questions about our site or our services or our privacy policy, we encourage you to ask us questions.
Use of IP Addresses
An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web. Many Web servers automatically identify your computer by its IP address. The Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center collects IP addresses from the Web server logs for the purposes of system administration, to report aggregate information to our clients through whose Web sites you access Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center's content, and to audit the use of our site (such as the domain name of the server and the publicly available registered city for that domain name). When users request pages from Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center, our servers log the users' IP addresses. We do not normally link IP addresses to anything personally identifiable, which means that a user's session will be logged, but the user remains anonymous to us. We can and will use IP addresses to identify a user when we feel it is necessary to enforce compliance with our house rules or terms of service or to protect our service, site, customers, or others.
Use of Cookies
Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center sites use session cookies but do not use persistent cookies. Cookies are used for record keeping and to track your movements when you visit a Web site. The use of cookies is an industry standard - you'll find them used at most Web sites, including health-related ones. Persistent cookies are pieces of information that a Web site transfers to an individual's hard drive for record-keeping purposes. The Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center do not use persistent cookies and therefore do not write any data to your hard drive. Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center does utilize session cookies that enable you to navigate the content that you use during your visit. The session cookies that we use do not give us access to any personally identifiable information about you. The Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center uses session cookies with one single purpose in mind: to help you better understand and navigate areas of the Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center services that our users find valuable. While this activity depends on the use of a session cookie, visitors to Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center always have the option of disabling cookies via their browser settings. We do not control cookies from the other sites that you may link to from Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center.
Links to Other Sites
You should be aware that when you are on Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center web sites and services, you may click on links that]could be directed to other sites that are beyond our control. There are links to other sites from Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center pages that take you outside our service. For example, you may link to another site that we believe offers you additional medical information that may be of some value to you. In addition, should you "click" one of these links, the "click" takes you off the Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center site. This includes links from partners that may use Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics logo as part of a co-branding agreement. These other sites may send their own cookies to users, collect data, or solicit personal information. Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center 's policy does not extend to anything that is inherent in the operation of the Internet, and therefore beyond Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center 's control, and is not to be applied in any manner contrary to applicable law or governmental regulation.
E-mail addresses
When you send e-mails to features such as "Ask a Question" or to "Feedback", we reasonably expect to receive the e-mails. However, due to the volume of questions we receive, we are unable to answer them all. If your question is chosen to be answered, we will send you an e-mail to let you know. The senders' e-mail addresses sent are not stored any longer than 30 days and we do not use identifying personal information for any other purpose although it may be included in anonymous, aggregated statistical information. Your e-mail address and related information may be stored should you request it to be stored (e.g., for e-mail notification of site updates).
Remove Information
You may request that we delete any personal information we may have collected about you (such as e-mail address) from our computers by contacting us directly using any of the following:
E-mail your request to pisc@upmc.edu for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center web sites and services, or call:
Call 412-647-9170 and specifically state which Internet site you are using.
Send regular mail to:
Due to our regular schedule for creating back-ups for our active databases and the need to retain accurate records, it is impossible for us to remove each and every occurrence of any information that you have provided to us or that we may have learned about your searching habits. However, we will remove such information from our active files immediately upon receipt from you of any such request.
Security
The importance of security for all personally identifiable information associated with our users is of utmost concern to us. Personal information submitted by you uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption. This information is stored in a secure database behind an electronic firewall and is password-protected. Once you have registered for access to our secure areas you will be assigned a username and password. You are the only person who has access to this information. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or e-mail. Ultimately, you are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and any account information. If you access Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center from a public workstation in a library or hospital, remember to sign out and close your browser window when you have finished your work. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence if your computer is accessible to others.
The Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center cannot completely ensure the privacy of e-mail communications to and from our site because they are not encrypted and, therefore, not secure. These communications, like most Internet e-mail, could be intercepted without your knowledge and permission, while in transit to or from our site. This includes e-mail you send to us through our various mailboxes, and URL information e-mailed from our site to others using the "Ask A Question or Feedback" features. If you are concerned about your privacy, we suggest that you do not use e-mail to communicate information to us that you consider sensitive. Once we have information that we may have learned while you have visited a site on the Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center Network, we store this information on database servers at the Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center in our Web Services Group Data Center which maintains both onsite guards, pass code locked doors access, and pass code authority. Although Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center will make every effort to safeguard your personal information, you should know that no site could warrant that it is 100% secure from "hackers" who might learn how to evade security systems or intercept transmissions over the Internet.
Effect of Legal Obligations Upon Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center 's Privacy Policy
Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center may disclose user information in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) the Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center 's rights or property, other Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center users, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center may disclose user information when we believe in good faith that the law requires it. In the event that we are compelled to disclose personal and/or health-related personal information, we will notify affected users, if the law allows, before making the required disclosure.
Changes in Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center 's Privacy Policy
Center for Pathology Informatics and Benedum Oncology Informatics Center will only use the information we learn about you in the manner described in the Privacy Policy in effect when the information was collected from you. However, we reserve the right to change the terms of this Privacy Policy at any time by posting revisions to our site. If, at any time, we wish to use personal information about you in a manner drastically different than we have described here, we will make every effort to contact you if you have given us your e-mail address or to make sufficient public announcements that, in our sole discretion, give you ample opportunity to ask that we delete any personal information we have about you in our files. We encourage you to visit our site occasionally to learn about any changes in our Privacy Policy.
Effect of Privacy Policy
This privacy policy is not intended to and does not create any contractual or legal rights in or on behalf of any party. This privacy policy may be revised periodically.
This policy was effective on September 23, 2002.
Last reviewed and updated: September 23, 2002.
NOTE: Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.