Privacy Statement for AHIMA Web Sites

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy. AHIMA is committed to honoring the privacy of our members and general users who access this site. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for AHIMA's main Web site at www.ahima.org and AHIMA's Communities of Practice Web site at cop.ahima.org.

On both sites, we use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server, derive usage statistics, and to administer our Web site. All usage statistics are only used as aggregated data to derive statistics and not to identify individuals accessing the Web sites.

AHIMA has contracted with other vendors to provide services and information to our Web site users. We use our best efforts to ensure the contract with such vendors only permits the vendor to use the data collected to diagnose problems and to administer our Web site.

HIM Salary Study and Unique Identifiers

In AHIMA's Communities of Practice Web site, general profile data on members are accessible to other members in aggregate form. Information provided to other members includes a member's name, city, state, job title, and workplace as part of an online member directory. Other identifying information is not available.

Unique identifiers (such as membership identification numbers) are collected from Web site visitors to verify the user's identity, provide customized Web pages, and customized information, and for use as account numbers in our record system. Such unique and individually identified information is never sold nor provided to third parties.

Cookies

Our sites use cookies to identify specific users and user options for our continuing education quiz system, surveys, advertising banner ad tracking, the rotation of ad displays on Web pages, online e-commerce system, and online Community platform. Cookies are also used in surveys, voting, and polling to prevent users from duplicating responses in any of these Web site events.

Financial and Customer Information

Our site uses order forms that allow customers to request information, products, and services. We collect a visitor's contact information (e-mail address), unique identifiers (their membership identification number), and financial information (account or credit card numbers). Contact information collected from the order form is used to send orders to customers. Financial information is used to collect payment from the user for billable products and services.

Links

These sites contains links to other sites. AHIMA is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of Web sites linked from AHIMA's Web sites, nor does linking to other Web sites indicate any endorsement of the site or the products or information provided on such sites.

Data Collection

Online surveys, polls, and all demographic information collected through the sites are used for internal benchmarking and research. Identifying information is not disclosed to outside parties, other than subcontractors of AHIMA, or used to contact users unless they have indicated that they wished to be contacted for follow up.

Public Forums

The sites make chat rooms and discussion forums available to its users. Although chat rooms and discussion forums are only viewable by AHIMA members, please remember that any information disclosed in these areas becomes public information, and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information. Forums and chat rooms may be monitored for content by AHIMA.

Security

Both www.ahima.org and cop.ahima.org have security measures in place that endeavor to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. These sites are a part of private networks, that do not provide direct access by outside parties to the servers. Firewalls are also in place to prevent unauthorized access to equipment and servers. All systems are monitored for suspicious activity to prevent any breaches in security.

AHIMA also employs a secure socket layers (SSL) security protocol, which is a standard industry tool used to provide data encryption on pages and areas where personal data are collected. SSL protects the personal information transmitted from a user's computer to AHIMA, allowing for safe transmission of personal and financial information over the Internet. AHIMA also uses digital certificate authentication to ensure secure transactions.

Choice to Opt-Out

At the point where we request information about the visitor, our site provides users with the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from AHIMA

AHIMA respects its members' and nonmembers' Internet privacy and right to choose which communications they want to receive. If you prefer not to receive AHIMA product and services e-mails, faxes, or postal mailings, go to http://imis.ahima.org/preferences and you will be taken to the log-in page. You will need your ID and password. If you don't know your password you can use your e-mail address to have it sent to you.

You can send e-mail to info@ahima.org, or you can call the following telephone number: (312) 233-1100.

Corrections and/or Updates

The sites give users the following options for changing and modifying previously provided information.

Access http://cop.ahima.org
Send e-mail to info@ahima.org

Send mail to:
AHIMA
233 N. Michigan Ave., 21st Floor,
Chicago, IL 60601-5809
Telephone: (312) 233-1100

Contacting the Web Site

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, AHIMA's Web site practices, or your dealings with these Web sites, you can contact:

American Health Information Management Association
233 N. Michigan Ave., 21st Floor
Chicago, IL 60601-5809
E-mail: info@ahima.org

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Copyright © 2009 by the American Health Information Management Association. All rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, reprinted, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the association. All contents, including images and graphics, on this Web site are copyrighted by AHIMA unless otherwise noted. You must obtain permission to reproduce any information, graphics, or images from this site. Permission must also be obtained to link to any of AHIMA's Web sites. To request permission, fill out the AHIMA Permissions Request or contact permissions@ahima.org.