Privacy Policy

Last updated June 15, 2021

Thank you for choosing to be part of our community at America’s Essential Hospitals or Essential Hospitals Institute (“Company”, “we”, “us”, “our”). We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy notice, or our practices with regards to your personal information, please contact us at info@essentialhospitals.org .

When you visit our website https://essentialhospitals.org (the “Website”), and more generally, use any of our services (the “Services”, which include the Website), we appreciate that you are trusting us with your personal information. We take your privacy very seriously. In this privacy notice, we seek to explain to you in the clearest way possible what information we collect, how we use it and what rights you have in relation to it. We hope you take some time to read through it carefully, as it is important. If there are any terms in this privacy notice that you do not agree with, please discontinue use of our Services immediately.

This privacy notice applies to all information collected through our Services (which, as described above, includes our Website), as well as, any related services, sales, marketing or events.

Please read this privacy notice carefully as it will help you understand what we do with the information that we collect.

What information do we collect?

Personal information you disclose to us

In Short: We collect personal information that you provide to us.

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register on the Website, express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and Services, when you participate in activities on the Website (such as by posting messages in our online forums or entering competitions, contests or giveaways) or otherwise when you contact us.

The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Website, the choices you make and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following:

Personal Information Provided by You. We collect names; phone numbers; email addresses; mailing addresses; job titles; usernames; contact preferences; billing addresses; debit/credit card numbers; sex; gender identity; sexual orientation; race, ethnicity, disability; date of birth; passwords; contact or authentication data; and other similar information.

Payment Data. We may collect data necessary to process your payment if you make purchases, such as your payment instrument number (such as a credit card number), and the security code associated with your payment instrument. All payment data is stored by Paypal. You may find their privacy notice link(s) here: https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/ua/payflowgatewaypp-full.

All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information.

Information automatically collected

In Short: Some information — such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or browser and device characteristics — is collected automatically when you visit our Website.

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use or navigate the Website. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Website and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Website, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies.

The information we collect includes:

Log and Usage Data. Log and usage data is service-related, diagnostic, usage and performance information our servers automatically collect when you access or use our Website and which we record in log files. Depending on how you interact with us, this log data may include your IP address, device information, browser type and settings and information about your activity in the Website (such as the date/time stamps associated with your usage, pages and files viewed, searches and other actions you take such as which features you use), device event information (such as system activity, error reports (sometimes called ‘crash dumps’) and hardware settings).
Device Data. We collect device data such as information about your computer, phone, tablet or other device you use to access the Website. Depending on the device used, this device data may include information such as your IP address (or proxy server), device and application identification numbers, location, browser type, hardware model Internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, operating system and system configuration information.
Location Data. We collect location data such as information about your device’s location, which can be either precise or imprecise. How much information we collect depends on the type and settings of the device you use to access the Website. For example, we may use GPS and other technologies to collect geolocation data that tells us your current location (based on your IP address). You can opt out of allowing us to collect this information either by refusing access to the information or by disabling your Location setting on your device. Note however, if you choose to opt out, you may not be able to use certain aspects of the Services.

Information collected from other sources

In Short: We may collect limited data from public databases, marketing partners, and other outside sources.

In order to enhance our ability to provide relevant marketing, offers and services to you and update our records, we may obtain information about you from other sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, affiliate programs, data providers, as well as from other third parties. This information includes mailing addresses, job titles, email addresses, phone numbers, intent data (or user behavior data), Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, social media profiles, social media URLs and custom profiles, for purposes of targeted advertising and event promotion.

How do we use your information?

In Short: We may use the information we collect for any lawful purpose, including the following.

To facilitate account creation and logon process. If you choose to link your account with us to a third-party account (such as your Google or Facebook account), we use the information you allowed us to collect from those third parties to facilitate account creation and logon process for the performance of the contract.
To maintain, operate, customize, and improve our Services.
Request feedback. We may use your information to request feedback and to contact you about your use of our Website.
To enable user-to-user communications. We may use your information in order to enable user-to-user communications with each user’s consent.
To manage user accounts. We may use your information for the purposes of managing our account and keeping it in working order.
To send administrative information to you. We may use your personal information to send you product, service and new feature information and/or information about changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.
To protect our Services. We may use your information as part of our efforts to keep our Website safe and secure (for example, for fraud monitoring and prevention).
To enforce our terms, conditions and policies for business purposes, to comply with legal and regulatory requirements or in connection with our contract.
To respond to legal requests and prevent harm. If we receive a subpoena or other legal request, we may need to inspect the data we hold to determine how to respond.
Fulfill and manage your orders. We may use your information to fulfill and manage your orders, payments, returns, and exchanges made through the Website.
Administer prize draws and competitions. We may use your information to administer prize draws and competitions when you elect to participate in our competitions.
To deliver and facilitate delivery of services to the user. We may use your information to provide you with the requested service.
To respond to user inquiries/offer support to users. We may use your information to respond to your inquiries and solve any potential issues you might have with the use of our Services.
To send you marketing and promotional communications. We and/or our third-party marketing partners may use the personal information you send to us for our marketing purposes, if this is in accordance with your marketing preferences. For example, when expressing an interest in obtaining information about us or our Website, subscribing to marketing or otherwise contacting us, we will collect personal information from you. You can opt-out of our marketing emails at any time (see the “WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?” below).
For other business purposes. We may use your information for other business purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Website, products, marketing and your experience. We may use and store this information in aggregated and anonymized form so that it is not associated with individual end users and does not include personal information. We will not use identifiable personal information without your consent.
Event Activities. For supporting all activities related to in-person conferences, virtual conferences, webinars and distance learning.
Governance. To make decisions about who serves on our boards and committees. We may use your information to make determinations of eligibility or suitability to serve on our boards of directors, committees, or other governing entities or volunteer programs.

Will your information be shared with anyone?

In Short: We only share information with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services, to protect your rights, or to fulfill business obligations.

More specifically, we may need to process your data or share your personal information in the following situations:

Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
Vendors, Consultants and Other Third-Party Service Providers. We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors or agents who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. Examples include payment processing, data analysis, email delivery, hosting services, customer service and marketing efforts. We may allow selected third parties to use tracking technology on the Website, which will enable them to collect data on our behalf about how you interact with our Website over time. This information may be used to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, pages or features, and better understand online activity.
Affiliates. We may share your information with our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this privacy notice. Affiliates include our parent company and any subsidiaries, joint venture partners or other companies that we control or that are under common control with us.
Business Partners. We may share your information with our business partners to offer you certain products, services or promotions.
Advertising, Direct Marketing, and Lead Generation
Affiliate Marketing Programs
Allow Users to Connect to Their Third-Party Accounts
Cloud Computing Services
Communicate and Chat with Users
Content Optimization
Data Backup and Security
Functionality and Infrastructure Optimization
Invoice and Billing
Retargeting Platforms
Social Media Sharing and Advertising
User Account Registration and Authentication
User Commenting and Forums
Web and Mobile Analytics
Website Hosting
Website Performance Monitoring
Website Testing
Corporate Affiliate Members or Partners

Do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?

In Short: We may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect and store your information.

We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information.

We may also work with other third parties that collect data about your use of the Website and other sites or apps over time for non-advertising purposes. We use Google Analytics and other third-party services to improve the performance of the Platform and for analytics and marketing purposes. For more information about how Google Analytics collects and uses data when you use our Platform, visit https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners. To opt out of Google Analytics visit https://www.tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/

How do we keep your information safe?

In Short: We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures.

What are your privacy rights?

In Short: You are not granted privacy rights under US law.

Account Information

If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can:

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Terms of Use and/or comply with applicable legal requirements.

Cookies and similar technologies: Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Website. To opt-out of interest-based advertising by advertisers on our Website visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.

Opting out of email marketing: You can unsubscribe from our marketing email list at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the emails that we send or by contacting us any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the emails that we send or by contacting us using the details provided below. You will then be removed from the marketing email list — however, we may still communicate with you, for example to send you service-related emails that are necessary for the administration and use of your account, to respond to service requests, or for other non-marketing purposes. To otherwise opt-out, you may:

Access your account settings and update your preferences.
Contact us using the contact information provided.

Controls for do-not-track features

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track (“DNT”) feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice.

Do California residents have specific privacy rights?

In Short: Yes, if you are a resident of California, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information.

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.

Do we make updates to the notice?

In Short: Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.

We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Revised” date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

How can you contact us about this notice?

If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may email us at info@essentialhospitals.org or by post to:

America’s Essential Hospitals or Essential Hospitals Institute
401 9^th Street
Washington, DC 20009
United States