Web Privacy Policy

Commitment to Privacy

Individuals' and patients’ privacy is very important to UVA Health. To better protect your privacy we provide this notice explaining our online information policy and practices. To make this notice easy to find, we make it available through a link on our homepage.

Our privacy and public records obligations are governed solely by applicable Virginia statutes, including, but not limited to, the Virginia Privacy Protection Act of 1976, the Virginia Freedom Of Information Act, and by any applicable U.S. federal laws.

Patient Confidentiality and Notice of Privacy Practices

Please note that our patient confidentiality policy is separate from the web privacy policy. Get detailed information about our patient privacy practices (PDF).

Notice About the Information We Collect

This notice applies to all information collected by or submitted to the UVA Health patient/consumer website.

The following information explains the internet privacy policy and practices that we have adopted for this site in legal terms, it shall not be construed as a contractual promise, and UVA Health reserves the right to amend it at any time without notice.

When you access our website, the client information and the essential and nonessential technical information listed below is automatically collected access information.

No other information is collected through our official websites except when you deliberately decide to send it to us (for example, by clicking on a link to send us an e-mail or signing up to join UVA Health programs or to receive UVA Health  publications, or paying a bill online).

The information you might choose to send us is listed below as "optional information."

Information includes:

  • Client information: the Internet domain and Internet address of the computer you are using.
  • Essential technical information: identification of the page or service you are requesting, type of browser and operating system you are using; and the date and time of access
  • Nonessential technical information: the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our Website, and the "cookie information" described below.

Optional Information Includes:

  • When you send us an e-mail:
    • Your name, e-mail address, and the content of your e-mail.
  • When you complete online forms:
    • All the data you choose to fill in or confirm including name, address, credit or debit card information if making a payment.

Third Party Links
UVA Health patient/consumer website (uvahealth.com) may contain links to websites operated by third parties. UVA Health has no control over the privacy policies and practices of such third party sites, and if you have any concerns, you are urged to review the terms of those sites for more information about the policies applicable to those sites.

The Way We Use Information
Client information is used to route the requested webpage to your computer for viewing. In theory, the requested webpage and the routing information could be discerned by other entities involved in transmitting the requested page to you. We do not control the privacy practices of those entities.

Essential and nonessential technical information helps us respond to your request in an appropriate format (or in a personalized manner) and helps us plan website improvements. Optional information enables us to provide services or information tailored more specifically to your needs or to forward your message or inquiry to another entity that is better able to do so, and also allows us to plan website improvements.

We may use non-identifying and aggregate information to better design our website. For example, we may report that X number of individuals visited a certain area on our website, or that Y number of men and Z number of women filled out our registration form, but we would not disclose anything that could be used to identify those individuals.

We may keep client information from our systems indefinitely after the webpage is transmitted, but we do not try to obtain any information to link it to the individuals who browse our website. However, on rare occasions when a "hacker" attempts to breach computer security, logs of access information are retained to permit a security investigation and in such cases may be forwarded together with any other relevant information in our possession to law enforcement agencies.

Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, any records in our possession at the time of a Freedom of Information Request might be subject to being inspected by or disclosed to members of the public for any purpose they may desire. As indicated above, client information may be retained after transmission of the requested Web page and might be available for inspection.

We use the information you provide about yourself when placing an order or request only to complete that order or request. We do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to complete that order or request. Similarly, we use the information you provide about someone else when placing an order or request only to complete that order or request. Again, we do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to complete that order or request.

We generally use return e-mail addresses only to answer the e-mail we receive, to provide requested services (such as e-newsletters) or to send updates about UVA Health initiatives (for those signing up). Such addresses are not shared with outside parties. 

Finally, we never use or share the personally identifiable information provided to us online in ways unrelated to the ones described above without a clear notice on the particular site and without also providing you an opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses.

Use of Cookies

uvahealth.com uses cookies to allow a user to customize their experience. Cookies enable the UVA Health the option to tailor what you see according to the way you entered the site.

For this kind of cookie, the information stored in that cookie might include the following (formatted for legibility):

  • Name: UVA_cookie Session: 973016679.175537

  • Timestamp: 973021258

  • Portal: 0
Expires: Tue, 01-May-2010 19:40:58 GMT

  • Domain: uvahealth.com
  • Path: /

Use of Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google").

Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.

Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for our website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.

Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above. For more information on Google privacy practices, visit http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html

Providing information is your choice. There is no legal requirement for you to provide any information at our site. However, our website will not work without routing information and the essential technical information. Failure of your browser to provide nonessential technical information will not prevent your use of our website but may prevent certain features from working.

For any optional information that is requested at the website, failure to provide the requested information will mean that the particular feature or service associated with that part of the webpage may not be available to you.

Tracking Pixels
We may also collect non-personally identifiable information through the use of tracking pixels. A tracking pixel is a transparent graphic image (usually 1 pixel x 1 pixel) that is placed on a webpage and, in combination with a cookie, allows for the collection of information regarding the use of the webpage that contains the tracking pixel. We use tracking pixels to tell when an advertisement has been clicked on or otherwise interacted with, and use that information to judge which advertisements are more appealing to users. In some cases, we use third-party service providers to help us collect and analyze this information.

Media Contacts & Influencers
UVA Health obtains contact details and other personal information regarding media contacts and influencers from a variety of sources including Cision. If you wish to know more about how such information is collected and used, please refer to Cision’s privacy notice at https://www.cision.com/legal/privacy-policy/

Our Commitment To Data Security
To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online, consistent with the policies of the University and with the laws and regulations of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

How To Contact Us
Should you have other questions or concerns about these privacy policies and practices, please call us at 434.924.2541.