Privacy Policy

At GeneMatters^TM, we deliver individualized Genetic Counseling Services. We provide professional guidance to individuals to assist them in:

• understanding their genetic family history,
• deciding if genetic testing is right for them,
• choosing the right test, and
• understanding their test results.

The Service may be ordered by a patient or by a healthcare provider or administrative provider on behalf of a patient. Patients (or their provider on their behalf) provide health history, family health history, and ethnicity through an online portal. Next, GeneMatters’ Genetic Counselors provide guidance to the patient via a telephone and web platform, and provide a written summary report, accessible on our Provider and Patient Portals (collectively the “Services” or “Service”).

This privacy policy (“Policy”) is designed to inform you how GeneMatters, LLC (“GeneMatters”) collects, uses, stores, processes and transfers your information when Services are provided and when you use www.gene-matters.com and our online portals accessed by healthcare providers, administrative providers and patients and telephone. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Statement, please do not access or use the Services. 

HIPAA Compliance

Our privacy practices are intended to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”). We will maintain the privacy of your Health Information as required by HIPAA and the regulations set forth under that Act. We encourage you to carefully review this Privacy Policy, which describes how we may use and disclose your Health Information.

SERVICES AND SECURITY THROUGH PROVIDER AND PATIENT PORTALS

Services are ordered by patients, healthcare providers and their authorized representatives as stated in the Terms of Service. The Service is used for the storage and transmission of Protected Health Information between GeneMatters and patients and healthcare providers and their authorized representatives. Protected Health Information is used in accordance with the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and applicable federal and state laws governing patient privacy. Information accessed through use of the Service, including Protected Health Information, is secured using administrative, physical and technical safeguards. For example, the transfer of information is encrypted using industry standard Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) technology and information is stored on controlled servers with restricted access. All access is password protected and each individual user has his/her own username and password. All access is tracked at GeneMatters for security purposes.

INFORMATION COLLECTED

PERSONAL AND CONTACT INFORMATION WE COLLECT OR MAINTAIN
GeneMatters collects, stores and uses personally identifiable information including but not limited to:

• Your name, date of birth, age, MRN (Medical Record Number), user name, password and other registration information,
• Your health information or records provided by you or your health care provider(s) on your behalf, which may include, but is not limited to, health history, your family health history, ethnicity, health status, testing results or other health related information, names and contact information for your health care providers,
• Payment information that you provide to us, such as credit card information and contact details such as email address, phone number, shipping/billing address,
• Contact preferences when it is voluntarily submitted to us for purposes of considering or ordering a Service, receiving Services and/or when you register for updates, or contact us,

HOW WE USE OR DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
GeneMatters may use or disclose your personal information to:

• Provide you with the Services.
• Contact you for administrative communications, including contacting you by email or phone to notify you when your healthcare provider or administrative provider has ordered the Service on your behalf.
• Collect payment for the Service, and/or in connection with rendering the Services
• Send a summary result or report to you or to your healthcare provider.
• Provide you with information you have requested or provide you with additional information, which GeneMatters believes may be of interest to you.
• Respond to your inquiries, provide you with technical support, to remind you of our Terms of Service www.gene-matters.com/terms and other policies governing the use of our Services.
• Comply with law enforcement requests and legal process.
• Act in good faith when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect your safety or the safety of others, to protect our rights, to investigate fraud, or to respond to a government request.
• Share with third-party service providers who perform marketing or other services on our behalf.
• Send you promotional communications, including updates on products and services offered by GeneMatters. You have the ability to opt-out of receiving promotional communications by updating your account settings or by following the unsubscribe instructions within a promotional communication.
• Transfer to an acquirer, or successor or assignee as part of any merger, acquisition, debt financing, sale of assets, or similar transaction, as well as in the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership in which information is transferred to one or more third parties as one of our business assets. GeneMatters will not sell or rent your personal information to any other company or organization.

MEDICAL RESEARCH
Medical research is vital to the advancement of medical science. We may use information we collect only by following federal regulations, which permit use of protected health information in specific manners:

• If you consent to be included in medical research.
• If your name and any other personally identifiable information is removed and if the researcher who receives the data signs a data use agreement and when the study has been approved by an Institutional Review Board before a study begins.
• In some situations, limited information may be used before approval of the research study to allow a researcher to determine whether enough data exists to make a study scientifically valid.

AGGREGATE DATA COLLECTION

WEBSITE BEHAVIOR
GeneMatters and our third-party partners track visits to our website as well as to the online portals accessed by healthcare providers, administrative providers and patients to compile anonymous aggregate statistics. GeneMatters uses various technical measures to gather anonymous statistics. This is done to help us customize and improve users’ experience, to gather demographic information about our user base, to offer our products and services, to monitor and track our marketing programs, and to serve targeted advertising on our site and on other sites around the Internet.

COOKIES
We may monitor the use of this Service by collecting and then de-identifying information. Data collection may occur through the use of cookies. We may alternatively collect information about the number of page views for this Website or to click-throughs to each web page as well as the originating domain name of a user’s Internet Service Provider. This information may be used to understand the visitor's use of the Website and Services. We will have no means reasonably available to us to ascertain the identity of individual users from aggregated information. Users can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level. If you reject cookies, you may still use our site, but your ability to use some features or areas of our site may be limited.

CHILDREN
If you are under the age of 13, you must obtain the authorization of a responsible adult (parent, legal custodian, or teacher) before using or accessing our Website. We have the right to refuse to provide our Service directly to individuals under the age of 18.

SECURITY MEASURES
Upon requesting the Service, you will be issued a secure user ID and have the opportunity to set up your password. Individuals with user IDs are solely responsible for the maintenance and security of your user ID and password. You also agree that you will be solely responsible for any activities conducted in connection with the Services. User IDs and passwords are personal and unique to each individual user.

Information that you provide to GeneMatters through our Service is encrypted using industry standard Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) technology, with the exception of information you send to us via email. Your information is processed and stored on controlled servers with restricted access. Unfortunately, due to factors outside our control (patient-owned computers infected with malware, etc.), we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit, and you do so at your own risk. As a consequence, GeneMatters disclaims any warranties, guarantees, representations or liability relating to maintenance or nondisclosure of private information.

CREDENTIALS
You must ensure that all Authorized Users keep their user IDs and passwords for the Hosted Services strictly confidential and not share such information with any unauthorized person. User IDs are granted to individual, named persons and may not be shared. You are responsible for any and all actions taken using your accounts and passwords, and you agree to immediately notify GeneMatters of any unauthorized use of which you become aware.

INDIVIDUAL CHOICES
You may choose to decline to share certain personal information with GeneMatters. As described in www.gene-matters.com/terms in some cases, we may not be able to provide you with a complete delivery of our Service without that information. You may have an opportunity to elect to receive certain communications from us. If you choose to unsubscribe from our email services at any time by following the instructions contained within the email, you will no longer receive correspondence from us. Please be aware that if you opt-out of receiving email from us, it may take up to ten business days for us to process your request, and you may receive promotional communications from us that you have opted-out from during that period. Additionally, even after you opt-out from receiving commercial messages from us, you will continue to receive administrative messages from us regarding the Service.

GOVERNING LAW
Our Services are controlled and operated by GeneMatters. By choosing to utilize our Services or otherwise provide information to GeneMatters, you agree that any dispute over privacy or the terms contained in this Privacy Statement will be governed in accordance with the governing Dispute Resolution and Arbitration provisions of the Terms of Service www.gene-matters.com/terms. If you are accessing our Services from any location with regulations or laws governing personal data collection, use or disclosure that differ from United States laws or regulations, please note that through your continued use of our Services, you are transferring personal information to the United States of America. Also, we may transfer your data from the U.S. to other countries or regions in connection with storage and processing of data, fulfilling your requests, and operating the Service. By providing any information, including personal information, on or to the Service, you consent to such transfer, storage, and processing.

UPDATES

GeneMatters may revise this Policy from time to time. All updates will be posted on this web page www.gene-matters.com/privacy. Please check the website for the most current version of our Policy. Your continued use of the website after we have posted a notice on the website constitutes your acceptance of such changes.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Please contact us with any questions or comments about this Policy, your personal information, our use and disclosure practices, or your consent choices by email at info@gene-matters.com, by calling 1-866-741-5331 or 612-314-7482 sending us a message using the contact form on our Contact page.

PAGE UPDATED AS OF: September 8, 2017