Privacy Policy

University Surgical Associates (USA) has created this Privacy Policy to demonstrate our commitment to privacy and disclose, using and disclosing personal information in connection with this Web site. Personal information is information about a person that includes identifying information about that person. Although there are links from this Site to other Web sites, this Privacy Policy applies only to USA’s Site and not to Web sites operated by others. For example, if you click on a link to the Web site of one of our partners, the action takes you out of our Site. Although we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of other Web sites, we do maintain strict guidelines regarding expectations of content and security of those sites.

1. Openness. We follow a general policy of openness regarding our privacy practices. This Privacy Policy sets out the fair information practices that govern the collection, maintenance, use and disclosure of personal information regarding visitors who use this Site.

2. Revisions to the Privacy Policy. We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time as we add new features or as laws change that may affect our services. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will post a new version number at the beginning of this Privacy Policy, consisting of the date (year and month) the Policy was last revised, so that you will be able to tell when the Privacy Policy was last changed.

3. Collection of Personal Information. Except as disclosed in this Policy or as disclosed on other pages in this site where information may be collected, we do not collect personal information about visitors to this Site.

4. Web logs. USA maintains standard Web logs that record data about visitors who use this Site. These logs may contain: The Internet domain from which you access this Site (e.g., aol.com, abc.org); Your Internet Protocol (IP) address; the type of browser and operating system you use; the date and time you visited the Site; Pages that you visited on this Site; Any addressed of the sites you visited to link to ours.

USA uses Web log information to design our Site, identify popular sections and features and to make the Site more useful to visitors. Logs are recorded in sequential files and we do not normally identify individuals from Web logs or use Web logs to gather personal information. However, we may use Web logs to identify those persons attempting to break into or damage our Site and we may share Web log information with law enforcement agencies if there exists evidence of a violation of computer security or related laws.

5. Visitor /Customer Requests for Information. If you submit a question or comment, or make a request through this Web site, USA may store your message and our response for a period of time. We may also use this information, and any information you give to us in response to a survey on the Site, to send you information regarding health-related programs, notices of enhancements to our services or Site or additional surveys.

6. Access, Correction, Deletion and Data Integrity. Requests to access, correct or delete personal information may be submitted using our contact information. Please note that we do not consider Web log information to be personal data/information.

7. Use and Disclosure of Personal Information. USA does not sell or rent personal information of visitors to this Site. We do not use or disclose personal information obtained through this Site except as described in this Policy. No patient identifying information will be shared or transmitted on this Site.

  a. Uses. USA uses information obtained from weblogs, cookies and visitor requests for the purposes described in this Policy. We also use personal information obtained from this Site to respond to requests, improve our services, demonstrate the quality of our services to our auditors and government agencies that have authority over us, and for the additional purposes described below.

  b. Disclosures. USA may disclose personal information to any person performing audit, legal, operational or other services for us. Whenever possible, we will require any recipient of personal information for these purposes to agree in writing to use the information only for the purpose for which it was disclosed and to destroy or return it when no longer needed for that purpose. We may disclose personal information when required to do so by a subpoena, court order, or search warrant. Except when deemed by us to be infeasible, we will notify the individual of a subpoena, court order or search warrant for the individual information, by e-mail using the e-mail address (if any) that the individual provided to us.

USA may disclose personal information as we deem appropriate to protect the safety of an individual or for an investigation related to public safety or to report an activity that appears to be in violation of law.

USA may disclose personal information to protect the security and reliability of this Web site and to take precautions against liability.

USA may disclose personal information to any successor in interest (any company or organization that purchases or otherwise takes over our assets).

8. Security. USA protects the personal information collected from this Site by using industry standard security precautions against loss and unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure of that information. We comply with the security safeguards detailed in our computer security policies and procedures and routinely monitor compliance. When credit card or other financial information is transmitted over the Internet we use industry standard, SSL (secure socket layer) encryption to protect that information.

9. Questions, Complaints or Requests to Change Information. If at any time you wish to contact us with a question or complaint or to exercise any of the rights set out in this Privacy Policy, or if you want to change any information collected by us, you may do so by contacting our main office at (423) 257-0466, or feel free to submit an message online through our secure Patient Feedback form, located under the “For Patients” tab on our homepage.

USA will continue its efforts to improve this Web site and the value it offers our patients. We take great pride in the accuracy of the information and resources available and encourage you to contact us with any suggestion for improving our site. Our goal, as always, is to serve you better. Thank you for visiting with us.