Terms of Use

Terms of Use / Online Privacy

TERMS & CONDITIONS: Revised July 5, 2024

Welcome to the website of www.griffinhealth.org (the “Site”). This Site is owned by Griffin Health Services Corporation (“Company”). Your compliance with these Terms of Use / Online Privacy (“Terms of Use”) is a condition to your use of the Site. If you do not agree to be bound by the Terms of Use, promptly exit this Site. Use of this Site is acceptance of these Terms and Conditions. 

Please consult the Online Privacy portion of these Terms of Use for information regarding our practices with respect to collection, use and sharing of personal information through this Site.

Ownership Of The Site

All pages within this Site and any material made available for download are owned or licensed by the Company. The Site is protected by United States and international copyright and trademark laws. The Contents of the Site, including without limitation the files, documents, text, photographs, images, audio, and video, and any materials accessed through or made available for use or download through this Site (“Content”) may not be copied, distributed, modified, reproduced, published or used, in whole or in part, except for purposes authorized or approved by Company, including the provision of services or products to Company, or in connection with a business relationship with Company.

You may not frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose, or deep linking to, any name, trademarks, service marks, logo, Content or other proprietary information (including; images, text, page layout, or form) of  Company without our express written consent.  If you have questions about the Site or any materials or would like more information or to request written consent please Contact Us or call us at 203.735.7421.

Site Security

You are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the Site, including, without limitation, (a) accessing data not intended for such user or logging onto a server or an account which the user is not authorized to access; (b) attempting to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization; or (c) accessing or using the Site or any portion thereof without authorization, in violation of these Terms of Use or in violation of applicable law.

Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. Company will investigate occurrences that may involve such violations and may involve, and cooperate with, law enforcement authorities in prosecuting users who are involved in such violations. You agree not to use any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of this Site or any activity being conducted on this Site.

Access to Site; Indemnification

In the event access to the Site or a portion thereof is limited requiring a user ID and password (“Protected Areas”), you agree to access Protected Areas using only your user ID and password as provided to you by Company. You agree to protect the confidentiality of your user ID and password, and not to share or disclose your user ID or password to any third party. You agree that you are fully responsible for all activity occurring under your user ID. Your access to the Site may be revoked by Company at any time with or without cause. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold Company harmless from and against all third party claims, damages and expenses (including reasonable attorneys fees) against or incurred by Company arising out of your use or access of the Site, or access by anyone accessing the Site using your user ID and password.

Accuracy and Integrity of Information

Although Company attempts to ensure the integrity and accurateness of the Site, it makes no representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever as to the correctness or accuracy of the Site and Content thereon. It is possible that the Site could include typographical errors, inaccuracies or other errors, and that unauthorized additions, deletions and alterations could be made to the Site by third parties.

In the event that an inaccuracy arises, please inform Company so that it can be corrected. Information contained on the Site may be changed or updated without notice. Additionally, Company shall have no responsibility or liability for information or Content posted to the Site from any non-Company affiliated third party.

Online Transactions – Payment of Bills

Patients may be able to pay their hospital bills and charges online. This service would be provided through a third party financial services provider who would manage and operate the online bill payment feature, including the processing of credit card, debit card and e-check bank accounting withdrawals. Please consult the website of this third party for their terms of use and privacy practices. 

Visitors to our Site may be able to register or purchase products online; for example visitors may be able to purchase from the Gift Shop or register for classes. We reserve the right to refuse or cancel any order. Some situations that may result in your order being refused or canceled include limitations on quantities available for purchase, inaccuracies or errors in product or pricing information, or problems identified by our credit and fraud avoidance department.

We may also require additional verifications or information before accepting any order. We will contact you if all or any portion of your order is canceled or if additional information is required to accept your order. If your order is canceled after your credit card (or other payment account) has been charged, we will issue a credit to your credit card (or other applicable payment account) in the amount of the charge.

If a credit card account is being used for a transaction, Company may obtain preapproval for an amount up to the amount of the payment.

You represent and warrant that if you are making online payments that (i) any credit card, debit card and bank account information you supply is true, correct and complete, (ii) charges incurred by you will be honored by your credit/debit card company or bank, (iii) you will pay the charges incurred by you in the amounts posted, including any applicable taxes, and (iv) you are the person in whose name the card was issued and you are authorized to make a purchase or other transaction with the relevant card and card information.

Typographical Errors and Incorrect Pricing

In the event a product or service is listed at an incorrect price due to typographical error or error in pricing information received from our suppliers, we shall have the right to refuse or cancel any orders placed for product / service listed at the incorrect price.

We shall have the right to refuse or cancel any such orders whether or not the order has been confirmed and your credit or debit card charged. If your credit or debit card has already been charged for the purchase and your order is canceled, we shall immediately issue a credit to your credit or debit card account in the amount of the incorrect price.

Medical Advice Disclaimer

The content of the Site, including without limitation, text, copy, audio, video, photographs, illustrations, graphics and other visuals, is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional medical advice, diagnosis, treatment or recommendations of any kind. You should always seek the advice of your qualified health care professionals with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your individual needs and any medical conditions. Reliance on any information appearing on the Site, whether provided by Company, its content providers, its clients, visitors to the Site or others, is solely at your own risk.

General Warranty Disclaimer

Company does not warrant that access to or use of the Site will be interrupted or error-free or that defects in the Site will be corrected. This Site, including any content or information contained within it or any Site-related services, is provided “as is,” with all faults, with no representations or warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, quality of information, quiet enjoyment, and title/non-infringement.

Company specifically disclaims all liability for errors or omissions in, or the misuse or misinterpretation of, any information obtained through the Site. Company does not warrant the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of the information obtained through the Site.

You assume total responsibility and risk for your use of the Site, site-related services, and linked websites. Company does not warrant that files available for download will be free of viruses, worms, Trojan Horses or other destructive programming. You are responsible for implementing procedures sufficient to satisfy your needs for a data back up and security. You agree that Company shall not be liable for any cost or damage or damage arising directly or indirectly from any such code. You assume total responsibility and risk for your use of the Site and of the Internet.

Limitation of Liability Regarding Use of Site

Company and any third parties mentioned on this Site are neither responsible nor liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special exemplary, punitive, or other damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, those resulting from lost profits, lost data, or business interruption) arising out of or relating in any way to the Site, Site-related services, content or information contained within the Site, and/or any linked website, whether based on warranty, contract, tort, or any other legal theory and whether or not advised of the possibility of such damages.

Your sole remedy for dissatisfaction with the Site, Site-related services, and/or linked websites is to stop using the Site and/or those services.

External Sites

Company makes no representations whatsoever about any other website that you may access through this Site. When you access a non-Company site, please understand that it is independent from Company, and that Company has no control over the Content on that website.

In addition, a link to a non-Company website does not mean that Company endorses or accepts any responsibility for the Content, or the use, of the linked site. It is up to you to take precautions to ensure that whatever you select for your use or download is free of such items as viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other items of a destructive nature. If you decide to access any of the third party sites linked to this Site, you do this entirely at your own risk.

ONLINE PRIVACY

Scope. This section describes how we use and share personal information collected through this Site. Our Site also contains links to third party sites that are not owned or controlled by Company.  Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our Site and to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personal information.

Information You Provide To Us. You can provide information to us on our Site through various means, such as contacting us through our Site, filling out feedback forms, paying your hospital bills online or purchasing products online from our gift store. Depending on which feature you are using, you may be asked provide personal information such as, name, address, telephone number, email address, credit or debit card information, bank account information, etc.

No Information From Children Under Age 13. If you are under the age of 13, please do not attempt to register with us at this Site or provide any personal information about yourself to us via this Site. 

If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under the age of 13, we will promptly delete that information.  If you believe we might have any information from a child under the age of 13 collected via this Site, please Contact Us or call us at 203.735.7421.

Information We Collect Automatically.  We reserve the right to collect certain information automatically as you use our Site, such as IP address, browser type, computer or device type, the website from where you navigated to our Site, and the pages on our Site that you view.

Your Personal Information 

The Limited Ways We May Use Your Information

We will not actively sell or license your information. These are the limited ways we interact with your information in connection with our mobile apps (i.e. Patient Portal or any other mobile app):

• When you choose to add a profile photo to our mobile apps, you may select an existing photo on your device or take a new photo using the camera app on your device. If you select an existing photo on your device, we store a copy of your chosen photo in app-private storage on your device. If you use the camera app on your device to take a new photo, the photo you take is first saved to your camera app and then also saved to app-private storage on your device. If you remove the photo from your profile or delete our mobile apps, the copy of the photo is deleted from the app-private storage, but the photo saved to your camera app remains available in your camera app until you choose to delete it. If you already have a photo stored in your profile through your healthcare organization – we do not interact with that photo in any way.
• We reserve the right to create encrypted identifiers to identify recipients data received by any health / biometrics watch and/or tracker and store them on your device in app-private storage. If you choose to stop using these trackers or delete our mobile apps, the identifiers are deleted.
• When you choose to view documents from your healthcare organization (such as letters or images) using our mobile apps, to make the files viewable for you we may temporarily store copies on your device in app-private storage. The temporary copies are deleted when you close your session on our mobile apps.
• If we extend an offer for automatic appointment arrival and you choose to enable it, we temporarily store identifiers and times for your upcoming appointments in app-private storage to detect when you arrive for an upcoming appointment. If you choose to stop using our mobile apps or you disable automatic appointment arrival, the identifiers are deleted.
• If we extend the ability to utilize location-based check in for in-person appointments, or allows you to find healthcare providers near you, you may choose to allow our mobile apps to interact with your location data for those purposes. We do not store your location data.
• If we extend the ability to allow you to notify front desk staff electronically when you arrive for an appointment, you may choose to allow our mobile apps to interact with your Bluetooth data for this purpose. We do not store your Bluetooth data.
• While you use our apps, we collect non-identifying information so we can provide customer service to you or your healthcare organization and understand how people use our mobile apps so we can improve our products. This information includes the time you began using the app, the healthcare organization you interacted with, any error messages or codes, the model of device used and its operating system, and the version of our mobile app used. If you use Android devices, we also collect your connection type (cellular or WiFi) during an error.

For Android Users – Required Google Play Disclosures for Certain Health Apps

Griffin Hospital/ Griffin Faculty Physician’s patient portal may interact with your sensitive data to provide certain features, such as video visits or mobile appointment check-in. The first time you try to use any of these features, we will ask for your consent within the app and will only allow you to use a feature if you give consent. You do not have to provide consent if you do not want to allow Company to interact with your data as requested. Please refer to the portal applications terms and conditions for more detailed information about the limited ways they may interact with your information to make your use of the patient portal possible.

The Patient Portal may offer location based check-in for in-person appointments or allow you to find healthcare providers near you. The first time you try to use any features that use your location, we will ask for your consent within the app and will only allow access your location if you give consent. You do not have to provide consent if you do not want to allow the third party portal applications to use your location. We do not store your data location.

Data the patient portals collects is not shared with third parties.

SMS Communications

Health-care related service updates may come through SMS from Company or its third parties. By consenting to receive communications from Company you are agreeing to receive text messages regarding health care-related services from us. You can cancel the text messaging service at any time. Just text “STOP” to the text message. After you send the text message “STOP” to us, we will send you a text message to confirm that you have been unsubscribed. After this, you will no longer receive text messages from us. If you are experiencing issues with the text messaging service, you can reply with the keyword HELP for more assistance. Read More.

Text messages can include:

• Updates related to your visits
• Portal account updates
• One-time passcode
• Billing notifications
• Prescription reminders
• Care management
• Service line informational messages

Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency may vary.

Cookies and Other Tracking Technology

We reserve the right to use common Internet technologies, such as cookies and other tracking technology, to optimize the performance of our website and other digital properties such as social media sites, email campaigns, and online advertising.

Cookies, beacons, tags, log files and other technologies may be used to collect information about visitors to our website, use of our online services, and interactions with our email campaigns, advertisements and other marketing content. Collected information may include, but not be limited to, computer / mobile browser type, computer / mobile operating system and IP address. This data may be merged with your online interactions – pages viewed, links clicked, or content viewed. This information, and the analyses performed after collection, helps us to provide for a more customized and personalized experience for you and future visitors.

We may collaborate with advertisers and marketing research firms as part of our marketing activities. These advertisers and research firms also may use cookies and tags to track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns on our behalf. The information they collect does not contain personally identifiable information.

You can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some website features or services may not function properly without cookies.

Mobile Location Information

If you use a mobile device, your device may share location information (when you enable location services) with our websites, mobile applications, services or our service providers. For example, precise geo-location can be used to help you find nearby Company locations or assist with appointment arrival. To manage how you share your device’s location settings, go to Account Settings within any third party application.

Fitness trackersWith your permission, our third party applications may connect to Apple HealthKit or Google Fit to receive health information and to share that information with your healthcare providers. You would be able to prevent sharing your health information with HealthKit, Google Fit, or other software enabled with HealthKit or Google Fit by restricting this setting.

How We Use And Share Your Information

• To Provide Products, Services, and Information. We collect personal information from you so that we can provide products and services that you purchase using the Site, and information that you request from us.  We use your personal information to contact you about your orders, process credit card / debit card transactions, and ship products to you. We may provide information to third party service providers that help us bring you the services we offer. For example, we use third parties to help host and maintain our Site, and to process payments.
• Communications from Us. We respect and are committed to protecting your privacy. We may collect personally identifiable information, including your email address, when you visit our site. We also automatically receive and record information on our server logs from your browser including your IP address, cookie information and the page(s) you visited. We will use the information to contact you about products, services and information and to provide relevant advertising to you.  We will not sell your personally identifiable information, but we may provide your email address to third parties who will contact you about our products and services or whose products or services would be of interest to you.
• Legal Requests or Requirements and to Prevent Harm. We will share personal information with third party companies, organizations or individuals outside of Company if we have a good-faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to:
• Meet any applicable law, regulation, subpoena, legal process or enforceable governmental request.
• Enforce applicable Terms of Use, including investigation of potential violations.
• Detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues.
• Protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Company, our users, customers or the public as required or permitted by law.
• Transfer in the Event of Sale or Change of Control. If the ownership of all or substantially all of our business changes or we otherwise transfer assets relating to our business or the Site to a third party, such as by merger, acquisition, bankruptcy proceeding or otherwise, we may transfer or sell your personal information to the new owner. In such a case, unless permitted otherwise by applicable law, your information would remain subject to the promises made in the applicable privacy statement unless you agree differently.

Medical Information

If you are experiencing a medical emergency, you should not rely on any information on the Site and should seek appropriate emergency medical assistance, such as calling “911”. You should always talk to your healthcare professionals for diagnosis and treatment, including information regarding which drugs or treatment may be appropriate for you. Statements made by any persons on these Sites are not intended to substitute for discussion or evaluation with your healthcare professional or provide any guarantee as to outcomes. Nothing on these Sites represents or warrants that any particular drug or treatment is safe, appropriate or effective for you. Health information changes quickly. Therefore, you should always confirm information with your healthcare professionals.

International Users

The Sites are controlled and operated from within the United States and are intended for a United States audience. If you live outside the United States, you may see information on the Sites about products or therapies that are not authorized in your country. Any information you provide to us through use of our Websites may be stored and processed, transferred between and accessed from the United States and other countries that may not guarantee the same level of protection of personal data as the one in which you reside. However, we will handle your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy regardless of where your Personal Information is stored/accessed.

Non- Connecticut Residents

If you are a non- Connecticut resident, certain Personal Information that we collect about you may be subject to your state’s consumer privacy laws.

Please note that generally, these laws do not apply to, among other things,

• Information that is lawfully made available from federal, state, or local government records;
• Consumer information that is deidentified or aggregated;
• protected health information that is collected by a covered entity or business associate governed by HIPAA

Use of Site – Code of Conduct

You agree not to use the Site or any other Company computing resources to engage in any of the following conduct. Such conduct is unacceptable and may result in the termination of your use of the Sites.

• Interfering with the operation of the Sites, or, restricting, disrupting or inhibiting any other user from using and enjoying the Sites and services;
• Posting or otherwise transmitting any unlawful, fraudulent, threatening, harassing, libelous, defamatory, discriminatory, obscene, or similarly objectionable or harmful material or information of any kind;
• Posting or otherwise transmitting any advertisement, promotion, or solicitation of goods or services for commercial or partisan political purposes;
• Posting or otherwise transmitting any information or software that contains a virus, worm, time bomb, Trojan horse, or other harmful or disruptive component that may compromise the security of the Sites;
• Posting, transmitting or otherwise using materials in violation of another party’s copyright, privacy, publicity or other proprietary right, or the terms of any contractual agreement or fiduciary relationship;
• Using the Sites or services for any commercial, partisan political or unlawful purposes;
• Copying, scraping, downloading, exporting, storing or otherwise capturing any data obtained via the Sites without proper written authorization by YNHHS;
• Modifying, adapting, sublicensing, translating, selling, reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling any portion of the Sites;
• Misrepresenting your identity, or, sharing or otherwise transferring user account information to any person other than the registered user authorized by YNHHS to use such account;
• Accessing or attempting to access any portion of the Sites to which you have not been explicitly granted access;
• Directly or indirectly authorizing anyone else to take actions prohibited in this section; or
• Otherwise using the Sites or any services, information and content available on or through the Sites in violation of the Terms or applicable law.

Protecting Children’s Privacy

We are committed to protecting children’s privacy on the internet, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Submissions to the Site by You

Where authorized, you may submit any text, images, data, information, content or other materials (collectively, “Materials”) to the Sites. In doing so, such Materials will be considered non-personal and non-confidential (except for personal information as described in the Privacy Policies), and you hereby grant to Company a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, sublicensable, assignable, worldwide right and license to link to, use, reproduce, transmit, modify, adapt, practice, publish, display, perform, distribute, translate, and create derivative or collective works from, any such Materials, in whole or in part, throughout the world in any media, including all intellectual property rights therein, unless otherwise agreed in writing with Company. You acknowledge and agree that any Materials submitted by users of any Site represent the opinions of the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion or information of Company. Any such Materials is no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for any purpose.

By submitting Materials to any Site, you certify ownership authority to grant such rights to Company and acknowledge that the burden of determining whether any such Materials are protected by copyright rests solely with you.

Further, you are solely responsible for Materials submitted by you, and Company assumes no responsibility or liability for Materials submitted by you or any other visitor to the Sites. We may, but are not obligated to, restrict or remove any and all Materials that we determine in our sole discretion violates the Terms or is otherwise harmful to us, other Site visitors or any third party. We reserve the right to remove Materials you submit at any time, but you understand that we may preserve and access a backup-copy, and we may disclose such Materials if required to do so by law or in a good faith belief that such access, preservation or disclosure is required by law or in the best interests of Company.

Any Materials you submit will be routed through the Internet and you understand and acknowledge that you have no expectation of privacy with regard to any such Materials. Never assume that you are anonymous and cannot be identified by your submissions. You hereby grant Company and any of its sublicensees the right to use the name that you submit in connection with the Materials, if they choose. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the Materials submitted by you; that such Materials are accurate; that use of such Materials does not violate the Terms, and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify Company and its officers, trustees, employees, representatives and agents for all third-party claims resulting from Materials you submit.

Policy changes

Company necessarily reserves the right to change this policy from time to time, without advance notice. We will promptly post any changes to our privacy policy and terms of use on all sites owned by Company in a manner that is in compliance with applicable regulations.

Questions

• If you are concerned about your patient privacy rights, please contact the Office of Corporate Compliance compliance@griffinhealth.org.

Web Accessibility Statement

Griffin Health is committed to providing a digital experience that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. We are continually improving the accessibility and user experience for everyone and applying relevant accessibility standards and guidelines.

Conformance Status

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA and Level AAA. This website strives to meet WCAG 2.1 at a level AA rating. We seek to ensure that our websites are accessible to people who use assistive technology such as screen readers and speech input software and those unable to use a mouse or pointing device.

Accessibility features that can be found on this website include:

• Color contrasts that assist with accessibility
• Page layouts are responsive and will be resized according to user device and width of the browser window
• Headings and labels are coded so they are descriptive and indicate visual importance, which can be read by screen readers
• Links formatted with accessible names that are meaningful within context
• Tables are laid out in tabular form, with headings and summaries that make them more accessible
• We use cascading style sheets (CSS) to determine the presentation of our website – this assists those using screen reading devices
• Images that provide alternative text that can be read by screen readers

This website has been built using code that is compliant with W3C standards for HTML and CSS. Because of this, it displays correctly on current browser versions and will also do so on future versions.

Supported Browsers

Desktop

• Microsoft Edge Browser
• Firefox
• Apple Safari
• Google Chrome

Mobile and tablet

• Android Chrome
• Safari

Use the latest version of your browser and assistive technology to ensure the best possible website experience. We recommend that users of our website upgrade their browser versions whenever possible, as new versions are faster, have the latest security features and provide an improved browsing experience.

To ensure that our website continues to offer a high level of accessibility, we perform periodic accessibility audits using a range of testing tools to flag and address errors. While Griffin strives to adhere to the accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, rapid changes in technology mean it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website. We are, however, continually seeking solutions to address accessibility issues.

Third-Party Content

While visiting our site, you may come across third-party sites. Griffin cannot guarantee that all third-party content will be compliant. You may learn more about the accessibility of third-party content on their websites.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of our digital content. Please let us know if you encounter website accessibility issues by emailing compliance@griffinhealth.org.

Current patients who may need interpreter or assistive services, should speak with their treatment team to initiate a request. Please visit our hospital websites for more information.