Privacy Policy

Vision Group values everyone’s right to privacy. Privacy involves the protection of your integrity and of your right to disclose your personal information or not, as well as ensuring that, as a consumer, you do not get bothered by unsolicited communications if you do not wish to be contacted. The following Privacy Policy outlines our practices with respect to our collection, use and disclosure of personal information provided to us. This Privacy Policy does not apply to personal information of our employees or employment applicants, or to information that is not personal information.

Personal Information We Collect

VISION GROUP (“we” or “us”) collects personal information for the purpose of managing and administering our services and business. We may collect personal information directly from you when you use our services or submit information to us (whether such information is submitted through our website, to our call center agents or clinic staff, for the purposes of entering in a contest or sweepstakes, or otherwise), or from third parties with your consent or as permitted or required by law.

The personal information we collect may include your name, address, email address, telephone number, health information (such as your diagnosis and treatment) and financial information (such as payment and insurance coverage information).

We collect, use and disclose your personal information with your consent or as permitted or required by law. Generally, by providing us with personal information we will assume that you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of such information for the purposes identified in this Privacy Policy or otherwise at the time of collection. We limit our collection of personal information to what is reasonable under the circumstances. You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to contractual and legal restrictions and reasonable notice.

Information We Receive from Third Parties

We may combine the information we collect from you with information that we receive about you from other sources, such as public databases, providers of demographic information, joint marketing partners, social media platforms, people with whom you are connected on social media platforms, and other third parties.

Non-Personally Identifiable Information We May Collect

Non-Personally Identifiable Information refers to information that does not by itself identify a specific individual. We gather certain information about you based upon the portion(s) of the websites that you visit. This information is compiled and analyzed on both a personal and an aggregated basis. This information may include the website’s Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) that you just came from, which URL you go to next, what browser you are using, and your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address. A URL is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. An IP address is an identifier for a computer or device on a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”) network, such as the World Wide Web (“Web”). Networks like the Web use the TCP/IP protocol to route information based on the IP address of the destination. In other words, an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the web, allowing web servers to locate and identify your computer. Computers require IP addresses in order for users to communicate on the Internet.

Through your browser or device

Certain information is collected by most browsers or may be automatically collected through your device with the use of a tracking code and other technology, to collect information such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (Windows or Macintosh), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, and Internet browser type and version. We use this to collect information on your activities on our websites or applications.

Through your use of a mobile or desktop application

When you download and use a mobile or desktop application of one of our business partners/service providers, they and we may track and collect application usage data, such as the date and time the application on your device accesses our servers and what information and files have been downloaded to the application.

Using pixel tags and other similar technologies

We may use pixel tags (also known as web beacons and clear GIFs) to, among other things, track the actions of users of our websites and our email recipients, measure the success of our marketing campaigns and compile statistics about usage and response rates.

Interest-Based Advertising

We may use third-party advertising companies to serve advertisements to you when you access our websites, applications or online services, based on information relating to your access to and use of other websites, applications or online services on any of your devices. To do so, these companies may use various technologies, including the placement or recognition of a unique cookie on your browser (including through use of pixel tags). They may also use these technologies, along with information they collect about your online use, to recognize you across the devices you use, such as a mobile phone and a laptop. These companies use the information they collect, as well as information received from third parties, to serve ads for us and others about goods and services that may be of interest to you when you are on our websites or on third-party properties.

Online Behavioral Advertising

Online Behavioral Advertising (“OBA”) is the practice of collecting information from web browsers so it can be used to present online advertisements that are more relevant to the user of a particular computer. We believe OBA offers consumers a much better experience of online advertising. When a consumer visits our website, the pages they visit, the amount of time they view each page, the links they click on, the searches they make and the things that they interact with, allow us to collect that data so that we can create a “profile” that links to that visitor’s web browser. We use this information to personalize your experience, enhance security, facilitate navigation, display material more efficiently and recognize the device that you are using. We may disclose OBA information to an affiliate or other third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock (including without limitation in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).

Behavioral Targeting/Re-Targeting

We partner with third parties to display advertising on our websites and manage our advertising on other sites. Our third-party business partners may use technologies such as cookies to gather information about your activities on our websites and other sites in order to provide you advertising about us based upon your browsing activities and interests. If you access our websites on your mobile device, you may not be able to control tracking technologies through the settings. You may also be redirected from the landing page of one website to another website, owned or controlled by us, through these technologies.

We may change our Privacy Policy at any time and without notice. If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post those changes on this page so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it. We encourage you to visit this website frequently to obtain the current version. Your continued provision of personal information to us following such change constitutes your acceptance of such changes.

How Vision Group May Use or Disclose Your Health Information

For Healthcare Operations

VISION GROUP may use and disclose your personal information, including health information, for operational purposes. For example, your health information may be disclosed to members of the medical staff, risk or quality improvement personnel, and others in order to evaluate the performance of our staff, assess the quality of care and outcomes in your case and similar cases, learn how to improve our facilities and services, determine how to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the healthcare services we provide. All VISION GROUP staff to which such health information is disclosed is bound by a confidentiality agreement.

Appointments

VISION GROUP may use your personal information to provide you appointment reminders. You may be contacted to remind you of an upcoming appointment by mail or by telephone at the address or number you have provided for contact; unless you have opted-out of receiving such electronic communications, you may also be contacted by email or SMS for such purposes.

For Treatment

VISION GROUP may collect, use and disclose your health information to provide you with medical treatment or related services. For example, any information related to your treatment obtained by a healthcare provider associated with VISION GROUP, such as an optometrist, physician, nurse, or other person providing health services to you, may be recorded in your patient chart. This information is necessary for our healthcare providers to determine what treatment you should receive. Our healthcare providers will also record actions taken by them in the course of your treatment and note how you respond to these actions. If you have been referred into our facility from a healthcare provider outside of VISION GROUP, that referring doctor may have sent information about you in advance to help in the treatment we provide you. We may provide your referring healthcare provider with copies of your record or reports that will assist him/her in your treatment and healthcare after you have completed your management from our facility. All VISION GROUP staff to which such health information is disclosed is bound by a confidentiality agreement.

For Payment

VISION GROUP may use and disclose your personal information to others for purposes of receiving payment for treatment and services that you receive. For example, a bill may be sent to you or a third-party payer, such as an insurance company or pursuant to a health plan. The information on the bill may contain information that identifies you, your diagnosis, and treatment or supplies used in the course of treatment.

Marketing

VISION GROUP may, with your consent, use information it collects, including information submitted in connection with contests or sweepstakes, to market to you directly for research opportunities, services, procedures or materials offered by VISION GROUP that may be of interest or benefit to you. If you do not wish to receive this information, you have the right to be removed from our list. With your consent, we may send you commercial electronic messages to the email address you provided, and/or send you text messages to the phone number you provided. The content of these messages can include newsletters, information about our products and services, information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services and other information and news that we believe may be of interest to you. If you no longer desire to receive these communications, you will have the option to opt-out of receiving future communications. Standard text messaging rates will apply in the case of messages sent to your phone. In addition, if you send us questions or requests, we may use your information (including your personal information) to respond to your questions or requests. We may also use the information collected to contact you about important service announcements and updates regarding our website, products or services.

Cookies

When you visit the VISION GROUP website, we may use “cookies”, which is technology that installs a small amount of information on the user’s computer to permit our website to recognize future visits using that computer. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information while on our site. The information provided through cookies may be used to track your activity on our website, to respond to your needs, to facilitate your experience on our website and to improve our website. You may choose to decline cookies and still use our site; however, you may not be able to access all areas of our site.

At VISION GROUP, we also leverage Google's cookie-based technology to group users into re-marketing audiences who have expressed an interest in our procedures by accessing key pages throughout our website. We do not collect any personally identifying information with this cookie. Audience members may be shown VISION GROUP text and/or image ads on any Google or 3rd party Internet sites for a limited period of time. Visitors may opt out of re-marketing by visiting Google's Ads Settings.

Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose your personal information to third party service providers in connection with specific services to be carried out on our behalf, such as the maintenance and operations of our website and databases or other reasons related to the operation of our business. These providers are required to keep your personal information secure and confidential and must respect our Privacy Policy. Their use of your personal information is restricted to the services to be provided to us and for no other purpose than what is required to carry-out such services.

Links to Other Websites

VISION GROUP is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any other websites to which we link or which may link to our site(s).

Access

The personal information we collect will be held at our offices or on our servers and those of our service providers and only those employees who require it for the purposes of their duties will have access to those files. To the extent provided by law, you may request access to your personal information contained in these files and the correction of such information by contacting us at the address set out below.

 

Contact Information

If you have any questions or complaints about our privacy practices, please contact us at:

Vision Group c/o Privacy Officer
1180 Drummond Street, Suite 400
Montreal, QC H3G 2S1

1-866-961-2020

privacy@visiongroupcanada.ca