U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Publications and Digital Products

Privacy Policy for the SAMHSA Disaster App Mobile Application

Overview

In a disaster, it's essential that behavioral health responders have the resources they need—when and where they need them. The free SAMHSA Disaster App offers first responders immediate access for any type of traumatic event at every phase of response, including pre-deployment preparation, on-the-ground assistance and post-deployment resources.

Information Collected

We do not collect personally identifiable information (PII) about you unless you choose to provide that information to us.  Any PII you chose to provide is protected by security controls consistent with the HHS Information Security and Privacy Policy and National Institutes of Standards and Technology and Office of Management and Budget guidance.

Non-PII information related to your visit to our website may be automatically collected and temporarily stored.  For more information on your health information privacy and security rights, or on the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, visit the HHS Office for Civil Rights.

Uses of Information

If you choose to provide SAMHSA with personal information – for example by completing a "Contact Us" inquiry via email, leaving a comment, or completing a survey – we may use that information to respond to your message and/or help us get you the information or services you asked for. Submitting personal information (name, address, telephone number, email address, etc.) is voluntary and is not required to access information on our website.

We will retain the information only for as long as necessary to respond to your question or to fulfill the stated purpose of the communication. Electronically submitted information, like information submitted in paper form, is maintained and destroyed in accordance with the Federal Records Act and records schedules of the National Archives and Records Administration. It may be subject to disclosure in certain cases (for example, if lawfully required in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, court order, or Congressional access request, or if authorized by a Privacy Act System of Records Notice). It is subject to the Privacy Act if maintained in a Privacy Act system.

Learn more about your rights under the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act.

Interaction with Children Online

SAMHSA will take all reasonable steps necessary to protect the privacy and safety of any child from whom information is collected, as required by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). A child’s parent or guardian is required to provide consent before SAMHSA collects, uses, or shares personal information from a child under age 13.

Information and instructions will be provided by the specific webpage and/or app that collects information about a child. The webpage and/or app will specify exactly what the information will be used for, who will see it, and how long it will be kept. 

Information Sharing

SAMHSA does not disclose, give, sell, or transfer any personal information about our visitors unless required for law enforcement or by Federal law.

Application Security

The Disaster App Application code has been scanned for viruses and malware prior to application publishing.   In addition, the application may have external links to SAMHSA.gov which is maintained by the U.S. Government. It is protected by various provisions of Title 18, U.S. Code. Violations of Title 18 are subject to criminal prosecution in federal court.  For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, we employ software programs to monitor traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage. In the event of authorized law enforcement investigations and as part of any required legal process, information from these sources may be used to help identify an individual.

Analytics Tools

When you browse through our application, we may use analytics tools to gather and temporarily store technical information about your visit. This information does not identify who you are. The information we collect includes:

  • The name of the domain you use to access the Internet (for example, aol.com, if you are using an American Online account, or stanford.edu, if you are connecting from Stanford University's domain);
  • The date and time of your visit;
  • The pages you visited; and
  • The address of the website you came from when you came to visit.

We use this information to improve our website and provide a better user experience for our visitors. We use a tool, Google Analytics, to collect and aggregate this information. This information is available only to web managers and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties. It is retained only for as long as needed for proper analysis. There is no PII included in this data.

Privacy Policy Contact Information

If you have any questions related to this privacy policy, please contact us by email at samhsainfo@samhsa.hhs.gov