The American Health Information Management Association® (AHIMA®) is a Chicago, IL, US-based, nonprofit membership association whose mission is to support health information management (HIM) professionals by providing products and services including, but not limited to, informational and educational in-person and online meetings, training, and publications, in addition to professional certifications, as well as US government relations activities in AHIMA’s Washington, DC office.

AHIMA collects and stores information, including personal information, which enables us to provide quality services, such as member services, product and sales information, and information about the health information management professions. This Privacy Notice affirms our commitment to protecting the privacy of personal information through careful reference to privacy and data protection laws. It is our goal to constantly improve our products and services to meet our customers’ needs.

This Privacy Notice applies to all products and services offered by AHIMA and covers all personal information collected from AHIMA’s websites, including AHIMA.org, access.AHIMA.org, and International.AHIMA.org, bok.ahima.org, journal.ahima.org, conference.ahima.org, and from any other AHIMA’s websites containing the ahima.org domain, as well as our 501(c)(3) foundation (AHIMA Foundation), ahimafoundation.org. It does not apply to products or services offered by other entities or persons, including other companies and organizations that advertise our products or services or any third party operating a website that is reached by a link from an AHIMA website or other digital assets (such as electronic forms).

We update this Privacy Notice as required to respond to changes in requirements and business practices; therefore, it is your responsibility to check back frequently for updates that may affect you.

What information we collect

Information you give us

We may collect personal information when you register for an account, use any of our online services such as AHIMA VLab™/AHIMA Virtual Lab®, make a purchase on our websites, or submit documentation using forms (such as order forms) by other electronic and paper methods. All information is captured and stored as part of your “Contact Profile”. Your profile may include information like the following:

• Identifiers such as name, address, and email address
• Phone number
• Date of birth
• Your prior AHIMA purchases or donations
• Employment history for AHIMA employees or for some certifications
• School transcripts for some certifications
• Credit Card information, when making a purchase

Information from other sources

You have the option of giving permission for a third party to provide us with your personal information; for example, you may be asked to permit your university or educational institution to disclose your education history for AHIMA certification purposes. Information like this is captured as part of your “Contact Profile.”

The AHIMA Foundation subscribes to services that provide contact information about individuals and certain other information such as prior donation status.

Information collected automatically online

AHIMA online services use cookies, which are small text files stored either temporarily or long-term on a user’s computer hard drive, which allow our websites to recognize you, permit you to log in, and track usage of the sites, preferences, IP addresses, geographic information and pages visited, and to gather other data and marketing information. Cookies do not contain identifying information such as your name, but they can contain other identifiers which can be used to recognize you.

Cookies may improve and/or simplify the use of our online services, such as using your AHIMA identifier to recognize you when you log in and keeping your login active while you browse our site. In other cases, such as with advertising cookies, we will not be able to identify you, as the identifiers are not AHIMA identifiers but belong to the third party associated with the cookie.

We have outlined the list of cookies we use on our sites, below:

Strictly Necessary

These are cookies that we must place in order for the site to function at all. You cannot opt out of these cookies.

Functional

These are cookies that help us monitor the way the site works. You cannot opt out of these cookies.

Performance-based

Performance-based cookies are placed based on your interactions with the site. Clearing these cookies could interfere with your experience on the site.

We, like many websites, use web measurement technology (Google Analytics) to automatically track how visitors interact with our websites, including where they came from, what they did on the sites, and whether they completed any tasks that we pre-determined to measure (such as requesting more information, or filling out a profile). See below under Analytics for additional information.

Advertising Tracking

Advertising tracking cookies help us understand the use of our site and create products and services that are helpful and useful to our members and website visitors. You can opt-out of these cookies without affecting your interaction on the site, but it will limit our ability to provide you with useful tools and information.

Do Not Track response

Our websites are not currently designed to respond to "do not track" requests from browsers.

User Forums

AHIMA sites make discussion forums available to users. Please remember that any information disclosed in these types of forums becomes public information, and you should exercise caution when deciding whether to disclose any personal or sensitive information. We may, but are not required to, monitor discussion forums for content. We retain the right to remove content at our sole discretion.

How we use the information we collect

Your information may be used to personalize your experience on our websites and our electronic communications by presenting information that may interest you.

• You can opt in or opt out of marketing communications by changing your online communications preferences under "Update My Profile.” You will still receive messages related to your transactions, your account, and certification or other relationship-based messaging.

AHIMA may use personal information collected through our online services and other methods to provide you with information, products, and services you may be interested in, request, or purchase; to contact you with member information; to invite you to participate in surveys and research projects; to invite you to provide feedback; to better understand your needs or interests; or to improve our products and services.

We may use your personal information for information security and site security purposes, and to detect or prevent malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity. We may also need to use your personal information in order to assist us to identify, de-bug, and repair errors that prevent the site from working as intended, for you and for others.

Analytics

Aggregate data is used to help AHIMA improve our user interface and diversify our content offerings to meet the needs of our customers, track operational problems, prevent fraud and improve the effectiveness, security and integrity of the website. For each page that you visit, we collect and store only the following technical information:

• Date and time of access
• URL address of the AHIMA webpage(s) visited
• Internet domain and IP address from which our website was accessed
• General geographic location information (city level)
• Type of browser and operating system used to access our site (if provided by the browser)
• URL address of the referring page (if provided by the browser)
• Completion or success status of the request for a web page or other on-line item
• File size of the webpage visited

This information is only used to help us make the website more useful for you. With this data we learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors use. We never track or record information about individuals and their visits and we do not share this data with anyone outside of the user’s association unless necessary for law enforcement purposes.

Information retention

We may retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. We will also retain information from applicants for a period of time after their employment application has been submitted, to speed the process of application for other suitable roles.

Legal basis for activities with respect to your information

Our legal basis for collecting, using, and processing your personal information depends on the data being collected and the context in which we collect it. Generally, however, we collect your personal information when we have your consent to collect it, in order to fulfill a contract you have requested, or when the collection and processing is in our legitimate interest, such as facilitating your membership and making our products and services available to you, and your personal rights and freedoms do not override that interest. Additionally, we may collect and use your personal information to fulfill a legal obligation of ours, or to establish, exercise, or defend our legal claims.

If we ask you to provide your personal information in order to comply with a legal requirement or to perform a contract with you, we will make this clear at the relevant time and advise whether you must provide the personal information in order to complete the task (as well as the possible consequences, if any, if you do not provide your personal information).

If you have questions about or need further information concerning the legal basis on which we collect and use your personal information, including the legitimate interests we rely on, please send an email to privacy@AHIMA.org.

How we share your information

We share your information with our corporate entities, as well as service providers, contractors, and other trusted third parties, in order to fulfill your requests and to provide you with valuable products and services.

• AHIMA provides your information to your designated HIM association, which is designated as a component association, or CA. You can opt out of this kind of sharing in your online profile. If you have additional questions, you can also contact your designated component association; a list of the component associations and their contact information is here.
• Convention and meeting exhibitors and sponsors receive attendee lists, which contain attendee name, title, company, email address and postal mailing address. Attendees can opt out of this sharing when registering for an event.
• Basic personal information, as identified above, will be provided to our third-party business partners that aid in the delivery of purchased services, such as our newsletter service provider, and shipping partners.
• Donations made to AHIMA Foundation will be processed by AHIMA; personal information is shared between AHIMA and AHIMA Foundation.
• We may also share your information in the aggregate with governments, regulatory bodies, and/or supervisory authorities.

Legal requirements to share

Sometimes we may be required to share personal information for legal reasons, for example, if we are required to do so by a regulation, court order, subpoena, or other legal process. We may also share information when we believe it's necessary to comply with the law or to respond to a government request, or when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect AHIMA, our customers, or others.

We may share personal information in the event of a corporate sale, merger, acquisition, dissolution, or similar event. If such an event takes place, we'll notify you through a prominent notice on our applicable website(s) of any change in ownership, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information.

How we protect your information

We use current, appropriate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect your personal information from data loss, destruction, unauthorized access, and accidental and/or unlawful disclosure or manipulation. We also require our business partners and service providers to use appropriate safeguards. These measures are subject to continuous improvement actions as technologies progress. They are also reviewed and measured periodically to comply with all applicable privacy laws.

If you receive a suspicious communication or otherwise suspect fraudulent activity on your account, please contact AHIMA. You can reach AHIMA by calling Customer Service at (800) 335-5535 or by e-mail at info@ahima.org.

Your choices

If you are a customer of our organization, you can opt out of marketing communications by changing your settings in your profile. If you want to opt out of receiving future communications, you may do so by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in any marketing email you receive from us.

If you are a person residing in the European Union (EU), you have other specific rights with respect to your personal information:

• Right to access, correct, update, or request deletion of your personal information
• Right to restrict processing, object to processing, or request portability of your personal information
• You have the right to complain to a data protection authority about our collection and use of your personal information. For more information, please contact your local data protection authority. (You will find contact information about the local data protection authorities, as well as contact information for certain data protection authorities outside the EU/EEA, here.)

To exercise any of these rights, please contact privacy@AHIMA.org. We respond to all requests in accordance with the applicable data protection laws.

International Data Transfers

When we collect your personal information, or when a third party collects your information on our behalf, the personal information may be transferred to our servers in the US in order to enable us to provide you with the products or services you are interested in. Where the transfer is made to a country such as the US which has not received an adequacy decision by the European Commission, such transfers are made in order for us to perform our contract with you or the services you have requested of us, or as otherwise permitted by the General Data Protection Regulation.

By providing AHIMA your personal information, you acknowledge this transfer of your information to, and storing or processing of, your information in the US. We will take steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your personal information is treated securely, and in accordance with this privacy policy and applicable law. In order to accomplish this, we have implemented the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (“SCCs”) with new vendors, and are implementing with existing vendors, for transfers of personal information to our platforms in the US, which requires that the third parties protect personal information they process from the EEA in accordance with European Union data protection laws, and that AHIMA also act in accordance with the EU data protection laws with respect to information about EU Persons.

Our SCCs can be provided on request. If you have questions or need further information, please contact privacy@AHIMA.org.

Protecting children's privacy

We are committed to protecting children's privacy on the internet and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13.

Privacy Notice updates

We may need to update our Privacy Notice as we and our customers grow and evolve. If we make material changes, we will notify you by posting a notice on this website, as well as inform you of any choices you may have with respect to these changes.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or our data protection practices, please contact us.

Phone
1-(800) 335-5535

Email
privacy@ahima.org

Address
American Health Information Management Association
ATTN: General Counsel
35 W. Wacker Drive, 16th Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60601

Last Updated: March 7, 2022

Nevada Residents:

We don’t sell your information as defined under Nevada law, but please know that if you are a Nevada resident, you have the right to request that AHIMA not sell your personal information to third parties. To submit this request, please send us an email: privacy@ahima.org.

AHIMA California Privacy Rights Notice

If you are a resident of California, you have certain rights under Cal. Civ. Code s 1798.83 (“Shine the Light”).

You may make a request in writing or by phone that we disclose to you categories of personal information AHIMA shares with third parties for their direct marketing purposes, and the third parties with whom that information was shared for their direct marketing purposes. (Note that this is separate from the California Consumer Privacy Act “right to know” obligations.)

After we receive your request, we will provide all of the following information to you, free of charge:

• In writing or by electronic mail, a list of the categories of personal information outlined in the Shine the Light law that we disclosed to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes during the immediately preceding calendar year.
• In writing or by electronic mail, the names and addresses of all of the third parties that received personal information from us for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year and, if the nature of the third parties’ business cannot reasonably be determined from the name, examples of the products or services marketed, if known to us, sufficient to give you a reasonable indication of the nature of the third parties’ business.

You may make the request in the following ways:

• In writing:

American Health Information Management Association
ATTN: General Counsel
35 W. Wacker Drive, 16th Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60601

• By email: privacy@ahima.org
• By phone: 1-(800) 335-5535