We understand the importance of safeguarding personal information and are committed to protecting your privacy. This privacy policy ("Policy") is offered to answer the following questions:

1. What web site does this Policy cover?

2. What personal information do we collect through this web site?

3. How do we use personal information?

4. How can you remove personal information from our files?

5. Do we use "cookies" and if so, for what purpose?

6. What can you assume about links to third party web sites?

7. Do we track your use of the web site?

8. What about e-mails you submit through the web site?

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns about this Policy. You can contact us by:

1. Sending an e-mail to askvmc@vtmednet.org;

2. Mailing a letter to P.O. Box 1150 Burlington, Vermont 05402-1150, Attention: Provider Relations or

3. Calling Provider Relations at (802) 847-8161.

The Policy covers those web pages with any of the following Internet addresses (the Internet address is typically displayed at the top of your browser):

1. www.vermontmanagedcare.org;

2. www.vmcnet.org;

3. www.vtmanagedcare.org; and

4. www.vmcnetwork.org.

You may use this web site without providing any personal information (e.g., your name, address, or phone number). We only obtain personal information if you choose to provide it to us. The two items identified below are situations where you can submit personal information through the web site.

We collect personal information if you submit, through the web site:

1. A question, request, or notification through the "Ask VMC" function of the web site;

2. An e-mail to a person on the VMC Provider Relations staff, which you can access by:

(a) clicking on the "Providers" link on the left hand side of the home page of our web site;

(b) clicking on the "Providers Relations" link on the left hand side of the page you are taken to;

(c) clicking on the "Providers Relations Staff" link on the left hand side of the page you are taken to; and

(d) clicking on the e-mail link to the person you would like to address your e-mail.

No Sales of Personal Information. We do not sell any personal information.

Questions. You may, via e-mail, submit an inquiry, request or notification to us. The e-mail will contain your e-mail address and may contain other personal identifiers. We may, depending on the context, respond to your e-mail and we may retain your e-mail in our files.

Please note that the web site is not designed or intended to accommodate the transmission of health information. E-mail transmissions are typically not secure means of transferring confidential or sensitive information. Consequently, please do not transmit any health information to us through the web site. If you do submit an e-mail with health information in it, we will destroy the e-mail and not provide a response to it.

You can have us remove personal information from our files by sending an e-mail to our Provider Relations Department through the steps outlined above. In the e-mail, please provide your name and identify the activity in which you provided the personal information. We will honor your requests in all instances where we are reasonably able to do so.

"Cookies" are electronic pieces of information, which can be stored by your browser on the hard drive of your computer. We do use cookies, but only to determine whether someone has previously visited the web site. Most browsers automatically accept a cookie, but you can usually modify the settings on your browser to refuse cookies or to let you know when one has been accepted.

Our web site does contain links to other sites, but this Policy does not apply to those sites. As noted earlier, this Policy applies only to web pages with a VMC based Internet Address (see the list above under the question - What Web Site Does This Policy Cover?). We encourage you to read the privacy policies on other sites before providing any personal information through those sites.

We collect the IP Address of your computer when you access the web site, but we use that information only to determine how many persons visit our site on a daily basis. We also track all uses of the site to gain information to help us understand how you use the site, what portions of the site are most frequently accessed, and how we can improve the site to better meet your needs.

By using our web site, you consent to the Policy. We will post changes to the Policy on this page so that you can always be aware of the types of information that we collect and how we use that information.