DHHS Website Privacy Statement

Introduction

Thank you for visiting the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) website. This page will explain the Department’s privacy practices in place as you use the Department’s Websites, phone applications, or other online resources and applications owned or controlled by DHHS (collectively “DHHS Sites”). DHHS Sites include resources that are managed or controlled by a vendor or DHHS partner acting at the direction of the Department. DHHS Sites are designed to support and provide an improved user experience for individuals and businesses to interact with the Department online. DHHS recognizes that individuals and businesses must be confident that their privacy is protected when they utilize technology systems and submit personal information. You should email webmaster@nh.gov if you have any questions or concerns about your use of a DHHS Site. For purposes of this statement, "personal identifiable information" means any information concerning a person 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.

DHHS Sites are designed to follow State and Federal laws. This statement explains the Department's privacy practices regarding information collected from individuals accessing a DHHS Site. This statement describes what information is collected and how that information is used. This privacy statement provides the general statement that applies to all of the DHHS Sites. Specific program or service sites will have a privacy statement specific to your use of that program or service site. You should examine the specific privacy statement of each DHHS Site you visit and review the privacy statement for that site. The specific statement of a DHHS Site may replace, add to, or modify the statement provided here. When you have questions or concerns about a specific DHHS Site’s statement, please contact the program or service described on the DHHS Site at the information listed on that specific site.

The Department only collects personal information about you when you provide that information voluntarily. For example, if you send an email, begin an online transaction, such as a survey, an application for state services, a permit application, provide public comment, or complete a registration form, you have consented to provide that information to the Department for uses related to the transaction.

Privacy First

Your privacy with respect to the use of DHHS Sites results from a partnership between the Department and you, the individual user. The Department makes user’s privacy a top priority. It is important to the Department that you are informed before you provide the Department with your personal information, that you consent and understand how it is used in order to provide you with program information and services. This statement informs you of the information that we collect from you at DHHS Sites, what we do with it, to whom it may be shared, and how you can access it. The goal of this explanation is to provide you with the tools and information for you to make an informed decision about your use of DHHS Sites. The Department wants all users to make informed decisions about whether to share personally identifiable information with it through use of the DHHS Sites.

Information Voluntarily Provided by You

DHHS collects information from your responses to: surveys, online forms, from any emails sent to DHHS or comments posted on pages hosted by DHHS. The information you share with the Department through a DHHS Site may contain personally identifiable information.

Information Automatically Collected and Stored by DHHS Sites

DHHS Sites design may include using "Persistent Cookies." The purpose of these Persistent Cookies is to collect and aggregate general site visit information from any user’s activity on the DHHS Site. Visitor activity information collected is important in order for the Department’s on-going evaluation of how to improve the DHHS Sites including on DHHS.NH.gov or affiliated websites such as sites hosted at https://nheasy.nh.gov/. In some cases you may be able elect to disable the Persistent Cookies. If you opt to disable the Persistent Cookies, your view or interaction with a DHHS Sites may be affected.

Non-Identifying Information

DHHS Sites collect the following items (which do not identify you as an individual); we will not attempt to match any personally identifiable information that you provide to us with your IP address, unless relevant and material to a criminal investigation:

1. The Internet Protocol (IP) Address and domain name used;
2. The type of browser and operating system you used
3. The date and time you visited this site;
4. The web pages or services you accessed at this site;
5. The website you visited before coming to this website;
6. The web site you visit as you leave this web site; and
7. If you downloaded content, the content that was downloaded.

Who is visiting the site is not important and information that is collected automatically is used to improve the website's content and to help the Department understand what is useful and interesting to users of the website. For example, if the Department knows which pages are visited most, how long a user review a page, or which a link on a page is opened most or least it can provide more useful information to the public. This information is collected for statistical analysis to determine what information is of most and least interest to the public and to improve the usefulness of the information and references available on the DHHS Sites.

Be assured that no identifying information will ever be collected for commercial marketing purposes and the Department will never sell or otherwise disclose any the personal identifying information collected from the website to third parties for commercial marketing purposes.

Usage Data and Known Persistent Cookies

DHHS.nh.gov uses (or may use) Google Analytics or other third-parties (“Tool” or collectively “Tools”) to collect information about the use of DHHS.nh.gov. This may include how often users visit DHHS.nh.gov, what pages are visited when they do, what other sites are used prior to coming to DHHS.nh.gov. DHHS Sites will include information or a notice to you if one of these Tools is used by the DHHS Site.

Information Collected When You Email the Department or Initiate an Online Transaction with a DHHS Site 

During your visit to a DHHS Site, you may send an email to our department or division. Your email address and the contents of your message, including any personal information you include in the body or subject of the email, will be collected. Any email will also include information in the email header that includes non-specific location information for the device used to send the email, such as IP Address. The information collected is not limited to text characters and may include audio, video, and graphic information formats included in the message. Your email address and the information included in your message will be used to respond to you, address issues you identify, improve the website, or may be forwarded to another State agency or Department Division for appropriate action. As stated before, your e-mail address is not collected for commercial purposes, and the Department will never sell or otherwise disclose your email address to third parties s for commercial purposes.

During your visit to a DHHS Site, you may initiate a transaction such as a survey, application for state services, permit application, or a registration form. The information, including personal information, volunteered by you in initiating the transaction is used by the DHHS to operate DHHS programs, including the provision of goods, services, and information. The Department may disclose the information collected by the Department for those purposes that may be reasonably determined from the nature and terms of the transaction in connection with which the information was submitted. Information may also be used to enable you to participate in additional online transactions; make our products, services and sites better; and investigate and prevent activities that may violate the law or our policies.

Except in limited circumstances, DHHS Sites do not knowingly collect personal information from minors or create profiles of minors through DHHS Sites. Individuals are cautioned that the collection of personal information submitted in an email or through an online transaction will typically be treated as though it was submitted by an adult and may, unless exempted from access by federal or State law, be subject to public access.

Disclosure of Information Collected Through This Website

The Department will only collect personal information through DHHS Sites or disclose personal information collected through DHHS Sites if the user has consented to the collection or disclosure of such personal information. Participation in an online transaction resulting in the user providing personal information to the Department, whether required as in information required for an application for services, or volunteered as in when a user sends the Department an email or provides public comment, constitutes consent to the collection and disclosure of the information to the Department for purposes reasonably related to the nature and the terms of the transaction.

Please be aware that governmental records are subject NH RSA 91-A (Access to Governmental Records and Meetings) and that some of the information DHHS receives through a DHHS Site is subject to disclosure and available to the public under a Right-to-Know request, unless exempt from disclosure under NH RSA 91-A:5 or other law.

The Department may disclose personal information to federal or state law enforcement authorities, or according to state or federal law, in order to enforce the Department’s rights against unauthorized access or attempted unauthorized access to the Department’s information technology assets or against other inappropriate use of DHHS Sites.

Retention of Information Collected Through this Website

The Department retains the information collected through DHHS Sites in accordance with its records retention and destruction requirements.

Confidentiality and Integrity of Personal Information Collected Through this Website

The Department is committed to protecting personal information collected through DHHS Sites. The Department systems and websites are designed to prevent unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of personal information of users. Consequently, the State limits access to personal information to only workforce members who need access to the information in the performance of their official duties. Workforce members who have access to this information are required to follow appropriate procedures in connection with any disclosures of personal information.

In addition, the Department has implemented procedures to safeguard the integrity of its information technology assets, including, but not limited to, authentication, monitoring, auditing, and encryption. These security procedures have been integrated into the design, implementation, and day-to-day operations of this website as part of our continuing commitment to the security of electronic content as well as the electronic transmission of information.

For website security purposes and to maintain the availability of DHHS Sites for all users, the Department employs software to monitor traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise damage this website.

Disclaimer

The information provided in this privacy statement should not be construed as giving business, legal, or other advice, or warranting as fail proof, the security of information provided through this website.