Privacy Policy

EFFECTIVE DATE: MARCH 28, 2023

I. Introduction

This Website Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes how affiliated entities HRC Fertility Management, LLC, Huntington Reproductive Center, a Medical Corporation, USC Fertility, NexGenomics, LLC, Reproductive Surgical Associates, and related affiliated entities (collectively, “us,” “we,” or “HRC”), collect, use, share, and protect information that is obtained from and about visitors to our Websites and App. We respect Your privacy rights and hope that this Policy gives You confidence as You visit and use the Site, and demonstrates our commitment to fair information practices and the protection of privacy.

II. Scope of this Policy
This Policy covers our online data collection activities, including information that we collect through our Websites and App. If You are one of our valued Patients then You can learn more about our privacy practices for our clients with the Notice of Privacy Practices that You received when You joined as a patient or it can be found on our Websites and App.

By continuing to visit and use our Websites and App, You are agreeing to the terms of this Policy. If You do not agree, then please exit this Website and close Your browser, or close the App and delete the same from Your device.

III. Definitions
“Patient” means a natural person who is receiving services from HRC.
“Prospective Patient” means a natural person who requests a consultation with or has submitted a new patient appointment request with HRC.
“Personal Data” means Personal Information.
“Personal Information” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual that is collected from our Patients and Users via our Website and App. Personal Information may include a Patient’s or a User’s: full name, physical address, email address, IP address, or other identifier such as from a Cookie.
Personal Information does not include any aggregate or anonymized data that may have been created from Personal Information but can no longer be used to identify, relate to or could reasonably be linked to a Patient or a User.

“Sensitive Personal Information” means any information collected from our Customers and Users that reveals a racial or ethnic origin, political opinion, religious belief, philosophical belief or trade union membership. It also may include a natural person’s genetic and biometric data, financial information, and data concerning their health, sex life or sexual orientation.

“User” means a natural person who visits our Websites and App.

“You” or “Your” means a Prospective Patient, a Patient, and a User.
“Websites and App” means https://www.havingbabies.com/ and any of our other websites that may be developed over time, including but not limited to our patient portals, billing/financial portals, and electronic medical records portals and related applications.

IV. HRC’s Information Collection Practices Overview

HRC has been helping hopeful parents build families since 1988. Our fertility specialists are recognized throughout the world as leaders in patient care, innovation, and research. We strive to provide world class service and surgical facilities to our Patients; and management, laboratory, and surgical facilities support to their healthcare providers, while respecting their privacy throughout the journey. For Users who are just visiting our Websites and App, as well as Prospective Patients, we also respect and value Your privacy as well.

It is our policy to only obtain the Personal Information that is absolutely necessary to provide our products and services to You and to limit access to Your Personal Information to only those individuals who need it to serve Your needs, provide You with the most comprehensive and personalized online experience possible, and in connection with Your preferences. Additionally, as we strive to provide the best service and experience, certain information may also be used to maintain and improve our customer service to You; or be used to create and develop new products, offerings, and events; and otherwise support the provision of our products and services to our Patients.

V. Information Collected from You when You visit Our Websites and App

We collect certain Personal Information from You in order to operate our Websites and App effectively and provide You with the best experience when You visit and use them. We describe what information we collect and how we obtain it below.

a. Information Provided by You
When You register for an account online via our Patient Portal or billing/finance portals, fill out one of our surveys, or register for one of our events, we will collect certain Personal Information about You such as Your name, zip code, date of birth, e-mail address, and telephone number. When a Prospective Patient requests information, a consultation or an appointment with us, or if a Patient provides consent and authorization to share their story with the public on approved mediums, we may need to collect additional Personal Information, such as Your home address, date of birth, health insurance information and any additional information that You may provide in the comments section, and also Your Sensitive Information, such as Your gender and possibly sexual orientation. Please note that only our Patients can register for an account online via our Patient Portal. For more information about our privacy policy for Patients, please review the patient Privacy Notice that was provided or will be provided to You when You start(ed) Your journey with us.

We will also collect certain Personal Information about You if You apply for a job with us. If You apply for a job with us, an applicable privacy policy for our job applicants during the application process will be available through the job application platform from which You apply.

b. Information collected on Our Websites and App

We also may use various technologies to collect information from Your computer or device and about Your activities on Our Websites and Apps.

i. Information collected automatically: We may automatically collect information from You when You visit our Websites and App. This information may include Your IP address, location data, Your browser type and language, access times, the content of any undeleted cookies that Your browser previously accepted from us, referring or exit website address, internet service provider, date/time stamp, operating system, locale and language preferences, and system configuration information. We may use Google Analytics to collect information about Your use of our Websites and App as well. You can learn more about Google Analytics and how it collects and processes data (including how to control the information sent to Google) by visiting: www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ . You can opt-out of Google Analytics by using the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/ .

i. Cookies: When You visit our Websites and App, we may assign Your device one or more cookies to facilitate access to our site and to personalize Your online experience. Through the use of a cookie, we also may automatically collect information about Your online activity on our site, such as the web pages You visit, the links You click, and the searches You conduct on our site. Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but You can usually modify Your browser setting to decline cookies.
A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer for record keeping purposes. Cookies can be either session cookies or persistent cookies. A session cookie expires when You close Your browser and is used to make it easier for You to navigate our Websites and App. A persistent cookie remains on Your hard drive for an extended period of time.

We may use cookies to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. We may also share information about Your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners, who may combine it with other information that You’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from Your use of their services.
When You first visit Our site, we provide You with a choice to either accept or deny certain cookies. If You choose to decline cookies please note that some of the features and services of our Websites and/or App may not function as well as intended. Even if You choose to accept cookies, You are always free to change Your mind and to revoke that consent. For more information or to opt out of the use of cookies even if you have already consented to the same, please click on the link at the bottom right of Your screen that states “Privacy & Cookies Policy” or by clicking on our cookie banner located on our Website and/or App, or by visiting https://www.havingbabies.com/cookie_policy/.

ii. Web Session Replay Recording Tool: In order to improve our current services and future product offerings, and collect accurate information, we may utilize web session replay recording tools. You will be notified before any recordings are started and given the option to opt out of such recording before any recording session begins. If You choose not to opt out after receiving this notification and continue into the session to participate in the recording, those actions will be considered to be Your consent for us to make this recording. If You would like to opt-out of the recording, please click “Opt Out” before proceeding into the session. Please note that we do not record any video or any payment information during these sessions and only use these recordings for our internal business purposes, such as ensuring accurate and complete information.

VI. Why We Collect Your Information

a. To Service Our Websites and App

We use information collected to ensure that our Websites and App are working as intended and for analytics purposes, to understand how our Websites and App are operating and learn how they can be improved. We also use this information as needed for auditing purposes as well.

b. To Set up a Consultation and/or Appointment for You

When a Prospective Patient fills out a request for an appointment or otherwise contacts us for a consultation, we us the information collected to make that appointment and respond to Your request.

c. To Evaluate and Improve our Customer Service

We may use this information to ensure we are providing the highest level of customer service, and to identify any potential gaps or potential improvements to the same.

d. To Provide Information about Our Services

When a Patient decides to share their journey with us and explicitly authorizes us sharing their journey with the public in approved mediums, we may use it to inform Prospective Patients and Users about the experience and provide insight on what Prospective Patients can expect from an applicable process.

e. In Order to Respond to other Requests from You
If You have requested further information or in any other way requested that we contact You, we will use Your Personal Information to respond to such a request.

f. For Our Legal Purposes
We also collect information in order to comply with certain legal and compliance rules and regulations that we are subject to.

VII. Who We Share Your Personal Information With

Generally, we share Your Personal Information as necessary to provide the services You request, including requests for information, or for purposes of treatment, payment and operations, as well as sharing information with certain Third-Parties, such as service providers. We also may share Your Personal Information when required to, by law, to protect Your rights and safety, and when You consent.

Specifically, we may share Your Personal Information with Third-Parties, including:

a. Authorized service providers: We may share Your Personal Information with our authorized service providers that perform certain services on our behalf. These services may include relationship management software; website hosting; evaluators, contractors and auditors; email marketing providers; customer service providers; providers that perform business and operations analysis for us; and providers that support and maintain our Websites and App, including providing analytics services for us.

b. Regulators and government entities: Upon request or in connection with a legal or compliance reason, we may provide Your Personal Information to regulators and other governmental entities for compliance and regulatory purposes.

c. For a Legal Reason: We may have to share Your Personal Information in response to a subpoena or similar investigative demand, a court order, or a request for cooperation from a law enforcement or other government agency; to establish or exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal or other claims; or as otherwise required by law or compliance. In such cases, we may raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us.

d. To Prevent Fraud or Illegal Conduct: We may have to share Your Personal Information in situations where we believe disclosure is appropriate in connection with efforts to investigate, prevent, or take other action regarding illegal activity, suspected fraud or other wrongdoing; to protect and defend the rights, property or safety of our company, our Patients, Prospective Patients, Users, our employees, or others; or to enforce our terms of service or other agreements or policies.

e. For Corporate Reasons: We may also share Your Personal Information as part of a sale, merger, or change in control or ownership of HRC, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy, or in preparation for any of these events. If such an event should happen, the new entity would have the right to continue to use Your information, but only in the manner that is set out in this Policy, unless You otherwise agree.

f. With Your consent: To other third-parties that You provide us with Your consent to share Your information with.

VIII. How Long do We Store and Maintain Your Personal Information?

We only store and maintain Your Personal Information for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected and in accordance with applicable laws, including laws and regulations on the maintenance and storage of healthcare and related billing and finance information. With regards to Your Personal Information collected for our analytics purposes and used to help maintain and improve our Websites and App, we only store and maintain that information until it is aggregated and used to create a new anonymous data set that no longer contains Your Personal Information, and then delete the underlying Personal Information once that new data set has been created. If You are one of our valued Patients or a Potential Patient, we may need to maintain Your information longer as per Your request or relevant legal obligations, as is outlined in our Privacy Notice which was provided to You when You first joined us as a Patient and can also be found on the Patient Portal.

IX. Sale of Your Personal Information

HRC does not sell any Personal Information that it has collected via our Websites and App to any third-parties. However, under recent guidance from the California Attorney General, our potential use of analytics providers for our Websites and App may be considered a sale or sharing under California Law. Thus, to the extent that such activity exists and constitutes a sale, this would be the only situation in which we would sell Your Personal Information.

X. Security

HRC maintains a comprehensive Information Security Program that employs commercially available physical and IT securitization tools, including but not limited to:

• Commercially available and sufficient firewalls;
• Segmented Data Storage;
• Multi-factor authentication; and
• Policies providing for least privileged access to data across our organization.

Unfortunately, however, there is no way to completely eliminate the risk of a data security incident. If we do suffer one that affects any of Your Personal Information, we will report the same to You as per applicable data breach notification laws. If You have any questions about the cybersecurity for our Websites and App, You can send an email to Attention: Privacy Officer at PrivacyOffice@havingbabies.com.

XI. Third-Party Applications and Sites

You may find links to other websites and applications within our Websites and App. These links are provided as a courtesy and HRC does not endorse, control, provide, or manage any content, including related privacy controls on any other website. When You use these links to go from HRC’s website to another website, You do so at Your own risk. Our connection to those sites is not and should not be considered an endorsement by HRC of the products or services found on those sites. You should check the applicable privacy notice and/or policy of the third-party website or application to understand how it collects and manages any information they collect from You.

XII. California Residents Legal Disclosures

a. Applicability

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CCPA”) applies to “consumers” who reside in California. It does not, however, apply to all types of information collected or all transactions conducted, and generally does not apply to information that has been collected or shared pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (Pub. L. No. 104-191, 110 Stat. 1936)(“HIPAA”) as that law provides its own level of protection to Your Personal Information. Accordingly, even if You are a consumer that lives in California, the CCPA may not be applicable to our collection of Your Personal Information if it is done in connection with providing You with our medical services as the collection of Your Personal Information in that situation would fall under the ambit of the HIPAA. The CCPA does apply to any Personal Information that we may have collected from You as described above and herein, via our Websites and Apps, even from Patients on our Websites and App when the Personal Information collected is not related to medical treatment.

b. Sale Of Your Personal Information

As noted above, we generally do not sell Your Personal Information, but under California State Law, our use of an analytics provider, if any, for our Websites and App may be considered a sale or sharing. Thus, this would be the only instance in which we would sell Your information.

c. Categories of Personal Information that we may collect:

d.  Why We Collect this information from You

We use this information from You for our business purposes as outlined below and above in Section VI.

e.  Sale or sharing of Your Personal Information for Our Business Purposes

As noted above, we do not sell Your Personal Information or share it for cross contextual advertising purposes. We do need to otherwise share Your Personal Information with third-parties for our business purposes, as noted above. We do not share Your Personal Information for any other reason besides for our business purposes as noted below.

The categories of third-parties that we need to share Your Personal Information with and the Categories of Personal Information that we share with those parties are:

f. Categories of our “Business Purposes” that are used to share Your Personal Information:

Even though we do not generally sell Your information, we still need to otherwise share it to support and continually improve our Websites and App and for other business purposes. Specifically, these categories of “Business Purposes” are:

1. Auditing – We may share this information with our third-party vendors, partners, accountants, auditors and service providers, to audit interactions and transactions.
2. Customer Service – We may use this information to improve and evaluate our customer service activities, processes and procedures.
3. Service Improvements – We may share this information with our third-party vendors, other partners, and service providers in order to improve Our services, create new services and products, offer new products, and to ensure that Our services are working as intended (to identify bugs and errors, and repair them).
4. Service Partners – We may share this information our third-party vendors, other partners, and service providers in order to have them perform their services for us, pursuant to a written contract that includes the notified purposes permitted by the CCPA.
5. Security and Legal Issues – We may share this information with law enforcement or other individuals pursuant to a valid subpoena or other legal obligation, our third-party vendors, other partners, and service providers in order to detect, prevent, and investigate security incidents, violations of Our Terms of Service or Content Standards, or other applicable laws.

g. Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information

We only collect and use Your Sensitive Personal Information in order to perform our medical services for You and for no other reason.

h. Your Rights under the CCPA

i. You, or Your authorized agent, can request information about the specific Personal Information we have collected about You by contacting us at: HRC Fertility, 135 S. Rosemead Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107, Attn: Privacy Officer or to PrivacyOffice@havingbabies.com. You can also request that we disclose how we have collected, used and shared Your personal information over the past 12 months, including the categories of personal information we collected and our purposes for doing so. You may also request the categories of the sources of that information, the categories of the third-parties with whom we have shared this information with for a business purpose, and our business purpose for doing so.

ii. You have the right to correct inaccurate Personal Information that we have collected or maintain about You. In fact, we ask that You do so as soon as You realize any Personal Information that we have collected is inaccurate as it could impact our provision of the Services.

iii. You have the right to opt out of Sale of Your Information, but as noted above, we do not sell Your information.

iv. You have a right to be notified when we collect information from You, and we cannot collect new categories of information from You without notifying You first.

v. You have the right to limit our sharing of Your Personal Information.

vi. You have the right to not be discriminated against for exercising these rights.

vii. You have the right to ask us to delete Your Personal Information. If You are a Patient however, we may need to keep certain information under applicable laws and/or legal requirements. Thus, if You request that we delete Your Personal Information, we may not be able to so right away if subject to those legal requirements and such requirements may be years’ long. However, as soon as we legally can delete Your information we will.

i. How to Exercise Your Rights

If You would like to exercise any of the rights listed above with regards to Your Personal Information, then please contact us, or have Your registered agent contact us at: HRC Fertility, 135 S. Rosemead Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107, Attn: Privacy Officer.

If You want to review and request changes to Your Personal Information, You may also contact us as noted above, and we will then provide You with detailed instructions on how to do so.

XIII. Do Not Track (“DNT”) Settings

DNT is a setting on some web browsers or mobile devices that can be turned on to instruct websites to disable tracking of Your web browsing activities. DNT is not currently widely adopted and does not have clear standards or guidelines as to how websites are to interpret it. Additionally, its signals can affect the functioning of certain websites. As such, HRC does not generally respond to these signals.

XIV. Third-Party Tracking on Our Websites and App

Third-parties may be using Cookies or other technologies to collect Your personal information as You navigate through the internet including from our Websites and App. As described above, You may decline these third-party Cookies by changing Your browser settings.

XV. Public Forums and Commenting

Our Websites and App may include interactive forums such as message boards and chat rooms. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose Your personal information.

XVI. Children’s Personal Information

HRC does not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 16. HRC’s products and services, including our Websites and App, are not marketed to or geared for children under the age of 16.

XVII. CONTACT US

For questions or comments regarding this Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:

By Postal Mail:
HRC Fertility
135 S. Rosemead Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91107
Attn: Privacy Officer

XVIII. Changes to this Website Policy

From time to time, we may update this Policy. If we do, we will note near the top of this page the date that any changes are made and/or when they become effective. If the changes being made are material, we may alert You to the changes in a more prominent way. We encourage You to review the Online Policy each time You visit our Websites and Apps to see if it has been updated since Your last visit.