Effective April 15, 2016 || Updated March 29, 2022
This Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Terms of Use apply to Houston Methodist Website and MyMethodist Native Mobile App. To learn more about how Houston Methodist collects, uses and shares your information via the MyMethodist Mobile App, visit the MyMethodist Mobile App section.
Committed to Your Privacy
Protecting your privacy is an important priority to The Methodist Hospital d/b/a Houston Methodist and its subsidiaries (collectively "Houston Methodist") and its affiliated entities. We realize that health is a personal, private subject matter, and we want you to be comfortable while visiting our site. Our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service govern the use of the sites and mobile apps that post it ("Service"), will inform you about what information we collect about you via the Service, how and when it is used, what choices you have when providing that information to us and how we endeavor to keep it safe and secure. This document is also an agreement by you regarding the terms and conditions of your use of the Service. Do not use the Service if you do not agree to these terms and conditions and consent to our practices described herein. This Privacy Policy and Terms of Use does not cover our practices or services other than the Service.
By using Houston Methodist's Service, you agree to acceptance of this Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
Information Submitted to Our Website
At various points on our Service, we may ask you to supply us with your name, e-mail address, telephone number and other pertinent personally identifiable information. This information is considered "Personal Information", and we may use it to contact you. We will collect this information from you only if you voluntarily provide it. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing:
While visiting our Service, you may have the option to select whether you'd like to receive more information from Houston Methodist. If you select this option, we may send you e-mails introducing a new service or information that we think might be of interest to you. We may also request Personal Information from you in connection with your use of, or participation in, requests for suggestions, customer feedback and surveys. If you send us an e-mail with questions or comments, we may respond using the information you provided.
If, at any time, you decide that you no longer wish to receive commercial e-mails from Houston Methodist, you may opt-out by sending us an e-mail, letter or by calling us at the Contact Us information below. We may still send you transactional e-mails such as responding to a request or related to services you are receiving and we may still communicate with you in other ways, and if you subsequently subscribe to commercial e-mail from us that will terminate your prior opt-out. However, you can always opt-out again later.
Information We Collect From Our Website
In addition to any Personal Information or other information that you choose to submit to us via our Service, we and third- parties may use a variety of technologies that automatically (or passively) store or collect certain information whenever you visit or interact with the Service ("Usage Information"). This Usage Information may be stored or accessed using a variety of technologies that may be downloaded to your personal computer, browser, laptop, tablet, mobile phone or other device (a "Device") whenever you visit or interact with our Service. To the extent we associate Usage Information with your Personal Information we collect directly from you on the Service, we will treat it as Personal Information. Otherwise we do not treat it as Personal Information.
This Usage Information may include:
We may collect information about you in various places when you visit our website. For instance, we may collect Usage Information about what pages on our site you visited and for how long for record-keeping purposes.
We may generate reports using certain kinds of non-identifying site Usage Information, such as the number of page views to our site. This information may be used for various reasons such as to monitor what the public likes and doesn't like about what we offer on our Service and may be used by technical support staff to provide better services for our visitors. However, these statistics do not contain any Personal Information.
How and When Do We Share Information with Third Parties?
We may share non-Personal Information, such as aggregated user statistics, with third parties. We may share your Device Identifiers with third parties along with data other than Personal Information related to you and your activities. We do not share your Personal Information that we have collected directly from you on our Service with third parties for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes unless we have given you the choice to consent or withhold consent to such sharing at the time you provide your Personal Information, in which case we will honor your choice. If we de-identify data about you, it is not treated as Personal Information by us, and we may share it with others freely.
In addition, we may share the information we have collected about you, including Personal Information, as disclosed at the time you provide your information and as described below or otherwise in this Privacy Policy. Further, Houston Methodist may disclose your information as follows:
(a) When You Request Information From or Provide Information to Third Parties. You may be presented with an option on our Service to receive certain information and/or marketing offers directly from third parties or to have us send certain information to third parties or give them access to it. If you choose to do so, your Personal Information and other information may be disclosed to such third parties and all information you disclose will be subject to the third-party privacy policies and practices of such third parties. In addition, third parties may store, collect or otherwise have access to your information when you interact with their Tracking Technologies (defined below), content, tools apps or ads on our Service or link to them from our Service. This may include using third-party tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or other third-party posting or content sharing tools and by so interacting you consent to such third party practices. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of such third parties and, therefore, you should review such third-party privacy policies and practices of such third parties prior to requesting information from or otherwise interacting with them.
(b) Third Parties Providing Services on Our Behalf. We may use third-party vendors to perform certain services on behalf of us or the Service, such as hosting the Service, designing and/or operating the Service’s features, tracking the Service’s activities and analytics, and enabling us to send you special offers or perform other administrative services. We may provide these vendors with access to user information, including Device Identifiers and Personal Information, to carry out the services they are performing for you or for us. Third-party analytics and other service providers may set and access their own Tracking Technologies on your Device and they may otherwise collect or have access to information about you, potentially including Personal Information, about you. We are not responsible for those third party technologies or activities arising out of them. However, some may offer you certain choices regarding their practices, and information we have been informed of regarding such choices is available here. We are not responsible for the effectiveness of or compliance with any third parties’ opt-out or other choice options.
(c) To Protect the Rights of Houston Methodist and Others. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we may also disclose your information if we believe in good faith that doing so is necessary or appropriate to: (i) protect or defend the rights, safety or property of Houston Methodist or third parties (including through the enforcement of this Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, and other applicable agreements and policies); or (ii) comply with legal and regulatory obligations (e.g., pursuant to law enforcement inquiries, subpoenas or court orders). To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we have complete discretion in electing to make or not make such disclosures, and to contest or not contest requests for such disclosures, all without notice to you.
(d) Affiliates and Business Transfer. We may share your information, including your Device Identifiers and Personal Information, Demographic Information and Usage Information with our parent, subsidiaries and affiliates ("Affiliates"). We also reserve the right to disclose and transfer all such information: (i) to a subsequent owner, co-owner or operator of the Service or applicable database; or (ii) in connection with a merger, consolidation, restructuring, the sale of substantially all of our interests and/or assets or other corporate change, including, during the course of any due diligence process.
(e) Interactions with Third-Party Services. The Service may include functionality that allows certain kinds of interactions between the Service and a third-party web site or application. The use of this functionality may involve the third-party operator providing certain information, including Personal Information, to us. For example, when you register with the Service, you may have an option to use your Facebook, Google or other account provided by a third-party site or application to facilitate the registration and log-in or transaction process on the Service, or otherwise link accounts. If we offer and you choose to use this functionality to access or use our Service, the third-party site or application may send Personal Information about you to us. If so, we will then treat it as Personal Information under this Privacy Policy, since we are collecting it as a result of your accessing of and interaction on our Service. In addition, we may provide third-party service interfaces or links on the Service to facilitate your sending a communication from the Service. For example, we may use third parties to facilitate emails, tweets or Facebook postings. These third parties may retain any information used or provided in any such communications or other activities and these third parties’ practices are not subject to our Privacy Policy. Houston Methodist may not control or have access to your communications through these third parties. Further, when you use third-party sites or services, you are using their services and not our services and they, not we, are responsible for their practices. You should review the applicable third-party privacy policies before using such third-party tools on our Service.
Changing Your Information
If you would like to make changes to Personal Information we currently have collected, you have a couple of options. You may change or update your Personal Information and/or health-related Personal Information at any time. You may do so by sending us an e-mail, sending us a letter or by calling us at the Contact Us information below.
How to Contact Us
Houston Methodist
Attn: Web Services Manager
2550 Holly Hall St.
Houston, TX 77054
webhelp@houstonmethodist.org
Complete our online form: https://www.houstonmethodist.org/contact/
Cookies We Use
Tracking. We may use various methods and technologies to store or collect Usage Information ("Tracking Technologies"). Tracking Technologies may set, change, alter or modify settings or configurations on your Device. A few of the Tracking Technologies include, without limitation, the following (and subsequent technology and methods later developed):
Cookies. A cookie is a data file placed on a Device when it is used to visit the Service. A Flash cookie (or locally shared object) is a data file placed on a Device via the Adobe Flash plug-in that may be built-in to or downloaded by you to your Device. HTML5 cookies can be programmed through HTML5 local storage.
Web Beacons. Small graphic images or other web programming code called web beacons (also known as "1x1 GIFs" or "clear GIFs") may be included in our Service’s pages and messages. Web beacons may be invisible to you, but any electronic image or other web programming code inserted into a page or e-mail can act as a web beacon. Web beacons or similar technologies may be used for a number of purposes, including, without limitation, to count visitors to the Service, to monitor how users navigate the Service, to count how many e-mails that were sent were actually opened or to count how many particular articles or links were actually viewed.
Embedded Scripts. An embedded script is programming code that is designed to collect information about your interactions with the Service, such as the links you click on. The code is temporarily downloaded onto your Device from our web server or a third party service provider, is active only while you are connected to the Service, and is deactivated or deleted thereafter.
Browser Fingerprinting. Collection and analysis of information from your Device, such as, without limitation, your operating system, plug-ins, system fonts and other data, for purposes of identification.
ETag, or Entity Tag. A feature of the cache in browsers. It is an opaque identifier assigned by a web server to a specific version of a resource found at a URL. If the resource content at that URL ever changes, a new and different ETag is assigned. Used in this manner ETags are a form of Device Identifier. ETag tracking may generate unique tracking values even where the consumer blocks HTTP, Flash, and/or HTML5 cookies.
Recognition Technologies. Technologies, including application of statistical probability to data sets, which attempt to recognize or make assumptions about users and devices (e.g., that a user of multiple devices is the same user).
There may be other Tracking Technologies now and later devised and used by us in connection with the Service.
Tracking Technologies Choices and Consent.
We are giving you notice of the Tracking Technologies and your limited choices regarding them so that your consent is meaningfully informed.
Regular cookies may generally be disabled or removed by tools that are available as part of most commercial browsers, and in some but not all instances can be blocked in the future by selecting certain settings. Each browser you use will need to be set separately and different browsers offer different functionality and options in this regard. Also, these tools may not be effective with regard to Flash cookies or HTML5 cookies or other Tracking Technologies. For information on disabling Flash cookies go to Adobe’s website: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/disable-third-party-local-shared.html. Please be aware that if you disable or remove these technologies some parts of our Services may not work and that when you revisit our Services your ability to limit browser-based Tracking Technologies is subject to your browser settings and limitations. Further, App-related Tracking Technologies in connection with non-browser usage (e.g., most functionality of the App) can only be disabled by uninstalling the App. To uninstall an app, follow the instructions from your operating system or handset manufacturer. For information on Third Party Tracking Technologies and browser Do Not Track signals, see the next section.
Third Party Tracking and Do Not Track.
Third parties may use Tracking Technologies in connection with our Service, which may include the collection of information about your online activities over time and across third-party web sites or online services. We may not control those Tracking Technologies and we are not responsible for them. However, you consent to potentially encountering third party Tracking Technologies in connection with use of our Service and accept that our statements under this Privacy Policy do not apply to the Tracking Technologies or practices of such third parties. For more information on our vendors, their Tracking Technologies and choices they may offer on tracking, click here. For more information on advertising and related Tracking Technologies, click here. Also, various third parties are developing or have developed signals or other mechanisms known as "do not track signals". For instance, some browsers may have such signal options, though they differ as to if the signal is set as default or must be turned on by the user. Further, there is currently no standard as to what sites and app operators should do with regard to these signals. Currently, we do not monitor or take any action with respect to these signals or other mechanisms, though we may consider doing so if an understandable and practical standard is developed and widely adopted. Instead, we suggest that users interested in information on third party programs that may permit you to exercise choice regarding targeted advertising, click here.
Securing Your Information
Securing your Personal Information is important to us. Therefore, we will take reasonable steps to secure your Personal Information. However, no data transmission over the Internet, mobile networks, wireless transmission or electronic storage of information can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Please note that we cannot ensure the security of any information you transmit to us, and you use our Service, and provide us with your information, at your own risk.
Information on Our Website
All material contained within our Service is the sole property of Houston Methodist or its licensors. Any reproduction or redistribution of this material is prohibited without the expressed written consent of Houston Methodist. Any reproduction of illustrations or photographs appearing on these pages is strictly prohibited.
The information provided on houstonmethodist.org is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her physician.
Physician Directory and Videos
Houston Methodist gives all physicians that qualify for inclusion in its physician directory the option to submit a physician profile and a video. The information provided in the profile and the video are submitted by the physicians and the information included does not constitute an endorsement or corroboration of facts by Houston Methodist and its Affiliates.
External Links
As part of our effort to provide you with as much health-related information as possible, we feature external links from our Service to other sites on the Internet. We believe that you will find these websites useful; however, we do not endorse these sites. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices. If you're asked to supply Personal Information to those sites, we encourage you to carefully read their privacy policy.
MyMethodist Mobile App
Houston Methodist takes very seriously its obligation to protect the confidentiality of your personal information. Houston Methodist's mobile applications for patients for iOS and Android, are intended to connect to servers and systems operated and maintained by Houston Methodist and business partners in order to provide you secure, mobile access to those systems and to your health information
Party |
Service |
For More Information |
Use of |
Privacy Choices |
Meta |
Ad serving and retargeting for career and |
https://www.facebook.com/about/ads/ |
Yes |
https://www.facebook.com/about/ads/ |
Google / |
Ad serving and retargeting |
www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy or |
Yes |
Certain Opt-out options via |
Google / |
Mobile analytics tool used |
firebase.google.com/support/privacy/ or |
Yes |
Unknown |
Hotjar | Usability and Experience | https://www.hotjar.com/contact | Yes | https://www.hotjar.com/privacy |
|
Ad serving and retargeted Ads |
https://support.twitter.com/articles/ |
Yes |
Certain opt-out options at |
Greystone/gSight | Website experience market research survey |
https://www.greystone.net/gsight | Yes | Not applicable (personally identifiable data is not collected) |