PROTECTING PATIENT PRIVACY: Disclosing information about patients without written permission (including posts, photographs, videos, or potentially identifiable information) is prohibited under HIPAA. Disclosing confidential patient's Protected Health Information (PHI) is a federal offense. Staff and volunteers should never publicly make comments about the care of a specific patient, especially online. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations apply to comments made on social and online media and violators are subject to the same federal prosecution as with other HIPAA violations. Discussions regarding specific patients and volunteers should be avoided, even if all identifying information is excluded. It is always possible that someone could recognize the individual to whom you are referring based upon the context. Even acknowledging the care of a patient is an unacceptable disclosure of PHI.

USING GOOD JUDGMENT: You are responsible for the material you post on personal blogs or other social media. Be courteous, respectful, and thoughtful about how others may perceive or be affected by postings. Incomplete, inaccurate, inappropriate, threatening, harassing or poorly worded postings may be harmful to others. They may damage relationships, undermine Kaiser Permanente’s brand or reputation, discourage teamwork, and negatively impact our commitment to patient care, education, research, and community service.

Statement of Purpose

Our purpose is to serve the volunteers of Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center and its satellites with a credible and useful source of online information.

Disclosures

This web site is owned and maintained by the Volunteer Services Department located at the nonprofit and public benefit Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center.

Funding for the website is provided by the Volunteer Services Department and server allocation is provided by Internet Services Group of Kaiser Permanente.

This web site does not accept advertising from any source not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

We are committed to provide timely and accurate content approved by the manager of the Volunteer Services Department.

Web Site Privacy Statement

Kaiser Permanente is committed to protecting the privacy of the users of this Web site. We will use and disclose the information you provide us as stated in our Web Site Privacy Statement (May 1, 2007).