Table of Contents
 

Website Policy

Welcome to the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (“HPC”) website, masshpc.gov (or “HPC’s website”). Thank you for using masshpc.gov. This Website Policy (or “Policy”) applies only to the use of the HPC’s website.

Terms of Use

Users Agree to These Terms

This webpage contains terms of use for masshpc.gov, the HPC’s website. By using masshpc.gov you agree to these terms and conditions. In addition, you should also review the Privacy Policy section to learn about information collected by masshpc.gov, what that information is used for, and how it may be shared.

Other Sites Have Other Policies

For your convenience, HPC’s website contains hypertext or other links to websites that are maintained by other Commonwealth agencies and to external internet sites that are not provided or maintained by the HPC or the Commonwealth. These websites may adopt additional terms of use that apply to specific web-based transactions with those agencies or data posted on their websites. Please note that the HPC cannot guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of these sites. In addition, the inclusion of links to non-governmental sites is not intended to recommend or endorse any views expressed, or products, processes, or services offered, on these sites, or the organizations sponsoring these sites. Please also note that the HPC uses various social media tools. Although some of the social media sites or identities might appear to be part of this site, many are hosted by third-party providers. Please review the Privacy Policy section for more information on the terms that apply for those sites.

Public Records and Copyright

All of the material posted on the HPC’s website and available to the public without use of an authenticating and authorizing mechanism (such as a "PIN" or password) is public record. Most of the public record posted on the HPC’s website can be copied and used for any purpose. For example, all laws and regulations are public record.

The HPC holds a copyright interest in most of the material posted on masshpc.gov; a small amount of the material is owned by a third party or co-owned by the Commonwealth and a third party. With respect to material in which the HPC holds the copyright, including the design, layout, and other features of masshpc.gov, and most of the content on masshpc.gov, the HPC forbids any copying or use other than "fair use" under the Copyright Act. "Fair use" includes activities such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, research, and other related activities. In addition, please be advised that masshpc.gov makes use of materials (e.g., photographs) in which third parties hold the copyright, which also cannot be copied or used for use other than "fair use" without permission of the copyright owner.

The HPC makes no warranty that the materials contained within masshpc.gov are free from copyright claims, or other restrictions or limitations on free use or display. The Commonwealth disclaims any liability for the improper or incorrect use of information obtained from masshpc.gov.

Privacy Policy

Overview

At the HPC’s website (masshpc.gov), your personal privacy is one of our top priorities. This policy informs you of the information that we collect from you at masshpc.gov, what we do with it, to whom it may be disseminated, and how you can access it. Based on this information, you can make an informed decision about your use of HPC’s website. This policy applies only to the use of HPC’s website.

As you navigate masshpc.gov, you will see links that, when clicked, will take you to other Commonwealth websites. These other websites may be operated by state agencies. These other websites may have individual privacy policies specifically tailored to the interactions available through each site. You may also see links that will take you to websites external to Massachusetts state government.

In particular, please note that although social media pages used by the HPC (e.g., X, formerly known as Twitter; LinkedIn; YouTube) may appear to be part of this website or a webpage under this website’s control, such sites are actually hosted by a third-party provider. Thus, when visiting these third-party social media sites, you are subject to different privacy policies and terms of service. We strongly suggest that you read the privacy policies for each Commonwealth website that you visit, and any external site that you visit through a link appearing at this website.

A Privacy Partnership

Your privacy with respect to the use of HPC’s website results from a partnership between you the user, and the Commonwealth. At masshpc.gov, we work to protect your privacy in accordance with best industry practices and the EOTSS Enterprise Information Security Policies and Standards. However, because some of the information that we receive through HPC’s website is subject to the Massachusetts Public Records Law (M.G.L. c. 66) we cannot ensure absolute privacy. Information that you provide to us through HPC’s website may be made available to members of the public under that law. You can maximize the benefits of your privacy partnership with the Commonwealth by making informed decisions about whether to share personally identifiable information with us through HPC’s website.

Personally Identifiable Information

We use the term “personally identifiable information” to mean any information that could reasonably be used to identify you, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, Social Security number, birth date, bank account information, credit card information, or any combination of information that could be used to identify you.

Dissemination of your Personally Identifiable Information

We do not sell any personally identifiable information collected through HPC’s website or submitted to the Commonwealth in conjunction with using functions on HPC’s website, and there is no direct or online public access to the information. However, once you voluntarily submit personally identifiable information to us related to your use of HPC’s website, its dissemination is governed by the Public Records Law, the Fair Information Practices Act (M.G.L. c. 66A), and other applicable laws and regulations. For this reason, part or all of the information you send us may be provided to a member of the public in response to a public records request. There are pieces of information, such as credit card numbers, TIN, username, or password that are not considered public for the purposes of a public records request. For more information on types of data exempted from disclosure under the Public Records Law, please refer to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law.

Information that you submit voluntarily through third-party social media sites where such sites are associated with the HPC, such as HPC’s X (formerly known as Twitter) handle (@Mass_HPC), and when such information is publicly available, including your name, city, town and the substance of anything that you post may be disseminated further by being posted online at this website or be publicly discussed by a member of this agency.

In addition, the information that you voluntarily submit (see Information Voluntarily Provided by You) will be disclosed only to HPC and other Commonwealth employees or officials, or those under contract with the Commonwealth, with a “need to know” for purposes of fulfilling their job responsibilities. The information will be used for such purposes as answering your questions, responding to any requests for assistance, generating summary statistics about usage, auditing applications and detecting fraud, aiding in the planning, design and development of HPC’s website, the Mass.Gov website, and fulfilling the Commonwealth’s legal obligations.

Where appropriate, we may provide the information you submitted voluntarily through a form to the person or company that is the subject of your inquiry, or to a government agency responsible for the matters referred to in your communication.

Information Voluntarily Provided by You

HPC’s website collects limited information voluntarily provided by you (e.g., through online forms). All such information may contain personally identifiable information. Please note that the Records Retention Law of the Commonwealth requires the HPC to preserve records created or received by a state employee. Pursuant to this retention requirement, comments posted or messages received via an official state agency page on a third-party website (such as an official agency profile on a social network) will be treated as state governmental records and may be permanently archived.

While masshpc.gov is intended as a medium for disseminating information from the HPC as a state agency, if you need to contact a separate state agency that is hosted on the Commonwealth’s Mass.gov domain, you should use the contact information for that state agency posted on its Mass.gov website.

Information Automatically Collected and Stored by Masshpc.gov

Some information is automatically collected when you visit the HPC’s website.

Masshpc.gov collects and stores your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address as well as information about the date and time of your visit, to which pages you navigate, what links you click (including links to external websites), resources downloaded, which forms are filled out, and how often you visit the HPC’s website. We use your IP address to assess the frequency of visits to the HPC’s website and the popularity of its various pages and functions. We will not attempt to match any personally identifiable information that you provide to us with your IP address, unless there are reasonable grounds to believe that doing so would provide information that is relevant and material to a criminal investigation. The one exception is that when you fill out information in a form on masshpc.gov, we receive your IP address along with this submission. We do not use this form-related IP address information unless it may be relevant and material to a criminal investigation.

Cookies are simple text files stored on your web browser to provide a means of distinguishing among users of this website. The use of cookies is a standard practice among Internet websites.

The HPC’s website uses cookies and tools for data collection and analytics to learn more about how visitors to masshpc.gov find and interact with the pages they visit. We may use this information to improve our service offerings and better tailor individual user experience. These tools may also collect data such as browser information, operating system, and page views through the implementation of “persistent cookies” or “session cookies.”

The HPC’s website employs the use of "persistent cookies." The purpose of these persistent cookies is to collect and aggregate data regarding masshpc.gov’s visitor activity in order for the HPC to continuously evaluate and improve its website services. You may elect to disable the Persistent Cookies. Please be advised that disabling the Persistent Cookies may affect your ability to view or interact with masshpc.gov.

Persistent cookies will allow the HPC’s website to recognize you when you visit again and tailor the information presented to you based on your needs and interests. Any persistent cookies in use on masshpc.gov cannot be used by anyone other than the HPC or the software publisher of the tool in accordance with that software publisher’s terms of use.

The HPC’s website also uses "session cookies" to enhance or customize your visit to this website. Session cookies can be created automatically on the device you use to access this state agency website. These session cookies do not contain personal information and do not compromise your privacy or security. We may use the cookie feature to store a randomly generated identifying tag on the device you use to access this website. A session cookie is erased during operation of your browser or when your browser is closed.

The software and hardware you use to access masshpc.gov allows you to refuse new cookies or delete existing cookies. Refusing or deleting these cookies may limit your ability to take advantage of some features of this website. Some of the tools permit you to opt-out of the tool by allowing that tool to plant a persistent cookie on your web browser indicating that you have opted out. If you disable cookies on your browser or use a different browser, different computer, different user account, etc., you will need to opt-out again.

Except as set forth in this Policy (e.g., possibly in response to a public records request), we do not combine the information collected through the use of any tool with personally identifiable information.

Usage Data

As described elsewhere in this Policy, the HPC collects information provided through the use of masshpc.gov to improve the website and make it more responsive to visitor needs. The HPC’s website also uses third-party data analytics and interactive tools to do so, as described below. These tools may automatically and anonymously collect and record your interactions with the HPC’s website.

The HPC’s website uses a tool called Google Analytics™ to collect information about use of this site. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit this site, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other sites they used prior to coming to this site. We use the information from Google Analytics only to improve this site. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit this site, rather than your name or other identifying information. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personally identifiable information. Although Google Analytics plants a Persistent Cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit this site, the cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google.

Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to this site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. The Google Analytics Terms of Use are available online at http://www.google.com/analytics/tos.html. The Google Privacy Policy is available online at http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html. You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to this site by disabling cookies on your browser. However, Google Analytics will allow tracking even when cookies are disabled.

Online forms on HPC’s website

Information submitted using online forms on the HPC’s website is received and stored by the HPC. Notwithstanding that, the HPC’s website may also include online forms provided by third-party services, such as Constant Contact. When you use such a service, your form submission is either sent directly to a Mass.gov email account or is securely made to the service provider and stored there. Form submissions sent to the service provider are then transmitted to HPC staff. HPC staff may then delete form submissions from the service provider’s environment when there is no longer any administrative need to retain them there. Information submitted to the form service providers will be used only for internal purposes and will not be distributed or sold to other third parties unless required by law or pursuant to a valid government request. As indicated in the Overview of the Privacy Policy, third-party services are subject to different privacy policies and terms of service. We strongly suggest that you read the relevant policies for any such third-party service or site.

Your Access and Opportunity to Correct

The Public Records Law and the Fair Information Practices Act provide you with certain rights to get information about you that is in our records. To learn more about the circumstances under which you can get and correct this information, please click on the above links to these laws.

Security

Because information sent to the Commonwealth may not be encrypted, you should not send messages containing information that you consider highly sensitive to masshpc.gov. We use standard security measures to ensure that information provided by you, including your personally identifiable information, is not lost, misused, altered, or unintentionally destroyed. We also use software to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, we make no attempts to identify individual users or their usage habits.

Policy Changes

We reserve the right to change the terms of this Policy at any time. We encourage you to review this page periodically to stay informed of any updates. The date that this policy was last modified can be found at the bottom of this page. Any modifications are effective immediately.

Disclaimer

While the HPC strives to make the information on this website as timely and accurate as possible, the HPC makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this website and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this site. No warranty of any kind, implied, express or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third-party rights, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and freedom from computer virus, is given with respect to this website or is links to other internet resources.

The information appearing on this website is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, financial, professional, health care or other advice to any individual or entity. The information contained in this Policy is not and should not be construed as providing any form of business, legal, or other advice, nor do we warrant as fail proof the security of information provided through the HPC’s website. Users may wish to consult with their own counsel.

In any situation where the official printed publications of the HPC or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts differ from the text contained in this site (or its links to other Commonwealth website sources), the official printed publications take precedence.

Reference in HPC’s website to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by the HPC.

Website Accessibility Statement

Information about web accessibility on the HPC’s website.

Overview

Masshpc.gov is committed to achieving meaningful accessibility to this online environment for all users, including users with disabilities. We follow specific Commonwealth enterprise standards designed to meet the needs of our citizens with disabilities. The Commonwealth enterprise standards are generally based on standards used by the federal government for technology accessibility for people with disabilities, as well as web content accessibility guidelines developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Masshpc.gov is tested using leading web accessibility technologies and reviewed by users to verify that our website is compliant with applicable standards.

You can find additional information on the following websites:

About Portable Document format (PDF)

Some documents on this website are produced in Portable Document Format (PDF). All PDF files are produced using the latest version of Acrobat (file conversion software for PDFs), which is the most accessible technology currently available for these types of files. In order to improve viewing of these files, please download the latest free version of Adobe Reader.

However, recognizing that even this version does not always work for all users, alternative accessible formats may be available upon request.

Questions about Accessibility

If any file format prevents you from accessing the information, please contact us for assistance. In order to respond in a manner most helpful to you, please note the nature of your accessibility concern, the format in which you prefer to receive the material, the webpage address of the requested material, and the best way to contact you.

Please see the Contact Information section for details on contacting the HPC.

Translation Disclaimer

Some pages of the HPC’s website may be translated for your convenience using translation software such as Google Translate.

Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, expressed or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and noninfringement.

For these translations, reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace human translators. These translations are provided as a service to users of the masshpc.gov website and are provided "as is." No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, or correctness of any of these translations made from English into any other language. Some content, such as images and videos, may not be accurately translated due to the limitations of the translation software.

Any discrepancies or differences created in translating this content from English into another language are not binding and have no legal effect for compliance, enforcement, or any other purpose. If any questions arise related to the accuracy of the information contained in these translations, please refer to the English version of the website.

Contact Information

You may contact the HPC with inquiries regarding this Policy, including your privacy while using the HPC’s website. All inquiries should be directed to:

[email protected] Massachusetts Health Policy Commission 50 Milk Street, 8th Floor Boston, MA 02109 (617) 979-1400 (voice) There is also a Contact Form on the HPC’s website.

People who are deaf, hard of hearing, late deafened, or speech disabled may reach HPC with MassRelay.

TTY and ASCII Users (English): 800-720-3480
TTY and ASCII Users (Spanish): 866-930-9252
Voice and Hearing Users: 800-720-3479