Privacy Policy

This website is maintained by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), an independent, non-profit organization. PCORI provides this Website Privacy (the “Policy”) and associated Terms of Use to explain how your personal information and any public comments collected on this site may be used by PCORI. PCORI reserves the right to modify, change, alter, replace, or amend this Policy at any time and without prior notice. Please check back frequently in order to see any changes. Your use of the site constitutes your acceptance of the Policy, as it may be amended from time to time, and you agree to be legally bound by this Policy

In general, PCORI does not require individuals to provide any personal information to access the content of this website. Under certain circumstances, we may tell you how to contact us and ask you to provide us with some details about yourself, such as name, address, phone number or e-mail address. Any information individuals provide to PCORI through this site is voluntary.

1. Disclosure of Personal Data Collected

Except as otherwise provided in this Policy, PCORI does not disclose, give, sell, or transfer any personal information provided by individuals to PCORI through this site. PCORI reserves the right, to the extent permitted by law, to disclose personally identifiable information about you to third parties as follows:

a. With your consent;

b. As PCORI believes necessary to: (i) comply with law (including court and government orders, and civil subpoenas); or (ii) protect the rights, property, or safety of PCORI (including its officers, directors, employees, volunteers and agents), our users, or others;

c. We may disclose personal information even without a subpoena, warrant, or other court order, to the extent we feel is necessary to inform and cooperate with law enforcement agencies or other appropriate authorities. For example, we may disclose information if you partake (or we reasonably suspect that you are partaking) in any illegal or potentially illegal activity; or

d. In aggregated form, i.e., information about multiple users collectively without identifying any individual user, such as the total number of visitors to a particular section in a given week. We use this information to measure the number of visitors to our site and its various sections and to help make our site more useful to visitors.

2. Use and Disclosure of Public Comments

You may decide to provide personal identifying information during any public comment periods. Any comments you provide to PCORI, including, but not limited to any documents or other materials and any identifying information submitted with your comments are collected voluntarily and may be disclosed by PCORI on this website, elsewhere on the Internet, in any other public forum, or in other PCORI materials. By providing public comments you are consenting to their disclosure, use and consideration by PCORI. PCORI reserves the right to remove offensive or inappropriate submissions from its public website.

3. Information Disclaimer

The information provided on the PCORI website is only intended to be general information to the public. It is not intended to take the place of any federal or state laws or regulations. It is not PCORI’s intention to provide specific medical advice to users of the PCORI website, instead PCORI provides users with information to help them better understand how to make informed health decisions. PCORI urges users to consult with a qualified health care professional for diagnosis, treatment, and answers to their personal medical questions.

4. Third Party Websites

This website may include links to other web resources. This Policy does not apply to those other third party sites and PCORI is not responsible for the content of websites to which it links. You should review the privacy and user policies of such third party sites upon visiting.

This policy was last modified on September 20, 2012, to reflect updates to the introduction and section 2.