TEC Privacy Policy

Updated: July 12, 2004

Your privacy is important to us. The Technology Evaluation Center ("TEC") maintains high standards for the protection of your privacy on our Web pages. Founded in 1985 by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association ("Association"), the Technology Evaluation Center (TEC) operates as part of the Association's Office of Clinical Affairs. Www.bcbs.com/tec ("the TEC Site") is a sub-site of the Association's primary Web site, www.bcbs.com. The Tec Site and www.bcbs.com have separate Privacy Policies. You will be notified about when this Policy applies to you when you arrive at or leave the TEC Site. This policy covers your use of the TEC Site only.

Here is what you can expect when you visit the TEC Site:

• Other than information you voluntarily supply to us in order to receive services or information from TEC, we don't collect or store any personally-identifiable information or protected health information at the TEC Site.
• Other than to fulfill a request from you, we won't sell, rent or share any personally-identifiable information you provide without your consent.
• We won't send you any unsolicited e-mail ("spam").

Questions regarding the privacy policy of your independent, local Blue Cross and Blue Shield company should be directed that company.

The Information We Collect

Our web servers automatically capture your domain name, the IP address of the web page from which you enter our site, the pages you visit on our site and the amount of time you spend here. We collect and store this information in aggregate form only and in a manner that does not reveal your personal identity. We do not collect any information that can reveal your personal identity unless you voluntarily provide it when you register to use interactive features of the TEC Site or to receive information from us. We do not collect any protected health information. No content on the TEC Site is intended for use by children or teens and we would not knowingly collect or use information from children under 13 without the consent of a parent or guardian.

Personally identifiable information voluntarily provided by you may be retained indefinitely for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice.

Use of the Information this Site Gathers/Tracks

The non-personally identifiable information we gather and store in aggregate form only may be used to maintain or improve our site, and we may share that information with the Association or with companies we hire to help us maintain or improve our site.

Any personally-identifiable information you voluntarily give us will be stored in a secure environment and used only to provide the product, service or information you have requested or for which you registered, for example to be added to a mailing list or join a listserv. Unless you specifically consent to let us do so, your personally-identifiable information, including your e-mail address, will not be sold, rented, licensed, or otherwise shared with any third party.

Personal information you voluntarily provide and the non-personally identifiable information we collect in aggregate form will not affect your insurance coverage, eligibility, premiums or claims payment by any Blue Cross and Blue Shield Company.

Making Changes to the Information You Provide to Us

At any time, you can change, update, or remove from our servers data that you voluntarily provided. To see what information you have provided or to make changes, please send an e-mail to TEC@bcbsa.com.

Cookies

When you visit the TEC Site, we may place a temporary "session" or a permanent cookie on your computer that will allow us to customize and enhance your experience at the TEC Site, make improvements to our site, or to report site activity. Our session cookies are not permanently stored on your computer and expire when you leave. Permanent cookies are issued only to site visitors who link the TEC Site from a search engine and are used only to permit BCBSA to attract qualified users to the Site. Our cookies will never be used to track your activity on any third party web sites or to send spam, nor will they provide us with any personally identifiable information about you. We store cookie information only in aggregate form and use the aggregate information only to make improvements to the Site or in internal reports on Site activity. You may use your browser controls to refuse to allow cookies to be placed on your computer. Refusing cookies disables our ability to include information about your visit in our regular monitoring of site traffic.

Changes to this Policy

The date of this policy is posted at the top. If we make any changes to this policy, we'll let you know the effective date of the changes and provide a tool for you to understand what has changed.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or comments about your privacy at the TEC Site or if receive any unwanted e-mail from us, please contact Privacy@BCBSA.com. Please do not send any protected health information to this address because the transmission is not encrypted to protect such information. We will respond to your message within 10 business days.