Privacy Statement

HIP Privacy Policy

Stanford University (“Stanford”) and the Stanford Health Improvement Program (“HIP”) know you care about the privacy and confidentiality of your information. We take protecting your privacy very seriously. Please read the following to learn more about how we treat your information.

By using the HIP website and participating in HIP offerings in any manner, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this HIP Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”). 

Privacy Policy Coverage/Applicability

This Privacy Policy covers our treatment of personal information that we gather when you use the HIP website or participate in HIP offerings.  

Our Privacy Policy does not apply to the information practices or services offered by other organizations or individuals (“Third Parties”), including service providers, advertisers, sponsors and others linked to our website.  

Information HIP Collects

In order to participate in HIP offerings, certain personal information about you must be collected. We will obtain information from you in one or all of the following ways:

• Information you provide: 

1. 1. Registration
      When you use our websites to register for HIP offerings, we collect personal information about you. All registrants will be asked for their Stanford affiliation. Stanford University employees, post-docs, and students will be asked for their SUNet ID and password. They will confirm their email address and phone number and select their Department. All other registrants will be asked to provide name, email, and preferred phone number. HIP processes credit cards through a secure third-party vendor, CyberSource. HIP does not collect or store any credit card information on its servers.
   2. HIP Programs
      In a small set of HIP classes, personal information about the participant may be collected for the purpose of delivering the class content. When a class is offered by an outside vendor, participants should review the Privacy Policies of that vendor. University employees and individual contractors who teach HIP classes are expected to abide by the University privacy policies.
   3. Surveys
      Class participants may be asked by HIP administrators to complete an anonymous survey about their class experience. HIP instructors may also administer surveys as part of the class content. 

• Information we collect automatically: 

1. 1. Shibboleth
      University employees, students, and post-docs use the university’s Shibboleth system in order to register for classes on our site. Shibboleth will send their SUNet ID, name, email address, phone number, university employee ID, university affiliation, organization unit, department, and STAP balance to us automatically.
   2. HTTP Referrer
      We may collect non-personal identification information about you whenever you interact with the HIP website. Non-personal information may include the browser name, the type of computer, and technical information about your means of connection to our website, such as the operating system and the Internet service providers utilized and other similar information.
   3. Web browser cookies
      Our website may use “cookies” to enhance your experience. Your web browser places cookies on your hard drive for record-keeping purposes and sometimes to track information about you. You may choose to set your web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you choose to reject cookies, some parts of the website may not function properly.
   4. Job information
      For the purposes of program planning and evaluation, University Human Resources may share limited information regarding University employees, including: university employee ID, job type, union status, job location, gender, organization unit and department.

Except benefit-eligible employees and their spouses/registered domestic partners, we do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 18 or knowingly allow such persons to register for HIP classes.

How HIP Uses Your Information

We will only use your HIP data as described below or as required or permitted by law.  

We will use your data primarily for the purpose of helping you take action to improve your health and for the administration and evaluation of our programs. As such, your personally identifiable HIP data are accessible only by limited parties, such as the staff of the HIP Program, staff at BeWell, their agents and vendors, and the IT personnel that maintain the data and websites. 

Certain information about participants in classes held in secure buildings will be shared with Stanford Facility Access Authorization Personnel to allow entry into these buildings. This information includes: name, employee ID number or Recreation ID number or SoM badge number, university affiliation, and class details. Class instructors will receive rosters of all their participants and will be asked to keep attendance. Upon request, WoW class champions may receive a roster with names and emails of class participants. 

Your data may be used for the following purposes:

1. To administer our programs 
2. To evaluate your health and wellness and suggest appropriate health promotion resources to you
3. To allow you to access the HIP websites and health education materials
4. Registration and class information of Stanford University employees and their spouses/registered domestic partners may be shared with BeWell in order to track participation in the BeWell Employee Incentive Program
5. To tailor health promotion surveys and programs for you
6. To prompt your participation in HIP programs and to notify you of information, resources, programs, events, classes, studies, initiatives, or surveys related to health or wellness. For these purposes, we may use an outside service to send emails and track usage statistics of these emails
7. To solicit feedback about the HIP program
8. To examine the relationship between survey variables and program participation
9. To plan future health promotion programming
10. To calculate participation rates among participants as a whole and by groups (e.g., departments, gender) and to design strategies to increase participation
11. To suggest and plan future health programming and benefits design at Stanford
12. To apply for funding that will help promote health
13. HIP registration and class data may be combined with data collected as part of the BeWell program. These data will be used to investigate the relationship among demographics, HIP and/or BeWell participation, lifestyle behaviors, knowledge, attitudes, and/or mental and physical health and well-being.

When used for purposes (8) through (13), HIP registration and class data may be combined with data provided by other university departments and be subjected to aggregate data analysis. Reports generated from these analyses will be shared with groups and individuals within Stanford University and with outside groups and for research, educational, and publication purposes. No identifiable information will be contained in the reports.

Authentication and tracking logs will be used to produce usage statistics and identify potential website improvements. This information does not contain any personally identifiable information.

How HIP Protects Your Personal Information 

HIP is committed to protecting the security of your personal information. We maintain safeguards to protect the security, integrity, and privacy of your data, including the following practices:

1. storing information we collect on a HIPAA compliant cloud environment with the highest level of data security;
2. protecting the transmission of your information over the internet, through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol;
3. using a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosures; and
4.  limiting access to data to only authorized personnel.

We endeavor to protect the privacy of the personal information we hold in our records, but we cannot guarantee complete security. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors, may compromise the security of your personal information.

The HIP website contains links to additional programs and websites. When following a link to another website, you should read that website’s privacy policy or consent form and make sure that you agree with it and can accept it.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy will be updated periodically to reflect any material changes in our programs and practices. These changes will be evident by inserting a new “Effective Date” (see below) and are effective when they are posted to our website at: https://hip.stanford.edu. Treatment of information we collect now is subject to the version of the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is used.

Contacting Us

If you would like to send us a request, or if you have any other questions or concerns regarding our Privacy Policy, you may contact us by email at healthimprovement@stanford.edu or phone 650-723-9649. Please do not include any sensitive information in emails or voicemails.

Effective Date

This policy is effective as of 5/6/20.