Privacy Policy

Samaritan Ministries International (SMI) takes your privacy very seriously. Please read our policy so you are aware of how we may use your information and how we will not use your information. For purposes of this policy, “member” shall mean both currently active and inactive members, as well as prospective members that have contacted SMI.

Our Privacy Principles

  • We do not sell member information.
  • We do not allow those who are doing business on our behalf to use our member information solely for their own marketing purposes.
  • We do allow some entities that are willing to promote discounted services to members the ability to promote these services to our members, but only upon agreement that our members' information will be protected.
  • We contractually require any person or organization providing products or services on our behalf to protect Samaritan members' information.

Information we collect

We collect information in order to better serve our members. Sometimes the information we collect includes simple things like what browser you are using. Sometimes the information we collect can also include sensitive or private information, such as medical bills and other health information. It is the goal of Samaritan to only collect the minimal data necessary to conduct the needs of the ministry and any agreed upon service in a way that is simple and secure.

We collect information in two ways:

Information you give us

This includes uploading images of bills, entering in personal information on an application, or simply requesting more info. This type of information is always given to us voluntarily, and many times the purpose is to provide a service to you.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Information such as your name, address, date of birth, email etc. may be collected and used to send you additional information about Samaritan or as part of your membership information. 

When a medical condition is published to the membership, the name, address, and possibly the electronic payment platform address are included in a share assignment notification, which is sent to a certain number of members based on the size of bills related to the medical condition. This allows the membership to share directly with one another.

Protected Health Information (PHI)

PHI can refer to information such as medical bills, treatment history, medical “needs,” etc. Medical information that we collect will always be kept confidential and will only be used by Samaritan Ministries staff or partners for one of two purposes: 1. determining a bill’s eligibility for sharing, and 2. negotiating or repricing the charges. The data will only be accessed or retrieved by authorized personnel, and only to the minimal extent required to carry out these purposes. 

When a medical condition is published to the membership, the related prayer request and short description of the medical condition are included in a share assignment notification, which is sent to a certain number of members based on the size of the bills related to the medical condition. This allows the membership to share directly with one another.

Information we get from you to use our services 

We collect information about what you use on our site and how you use it. This information helps us to provide a higher level of service and gives us insight on how best to improve. The information we collect includes:

Device Information

We may collect information about what hardware you are using. This may include whether or not you are using a mobile phone or a computer browser. Depending on the device used, information may include device number, browser version, operating system, etc.

Log Information

When you use our services or view content provided by Samaritan Ministries, we may automatically collect and store certain information in server logs. This may include:

  • Search queries or other fields you fill in
  • Internet Protocol Addresses (or IP addresses)
  • Device event information such as crashes, system activity, hardware settings, browser language, the date and time of your request and referral URL.
Location Information

There are many methods to track location information. One method we utilize is IP address tracking which gives us the state and city you are connecting from. This helps us determine utilization and track issues and insure we are providing a high level of service to our members and guests.

Local Storage

We may collect and store information (including personal information) locally on your device using mechanisms such as browser web storage (including HTML 5) and application data caches. This may be done to increase speed or security.

Cookies and Anonymous Identifiers

We use various technologies to collect and store information when you visit a Samaritan service. This sometimes includes the use of cookies. We also use cookies and anonymous identifiers when you interact with services from some third parties.

Other Information

Some information is automatically recorded through tools such as Google Analytics. Samaritan does not always have direct control over what information is collected by Google Analytics, however where possible all information collected by Google Analytics or otherwise is protected in accordance with this policy. This information may be associated with a unique identifier to connect information from Google Analytics through multiple sessions (and any activity within those sessions, whether authenticated or unauthenticated) and other user information obtained by Samaritan. By continuing to use our site, you hereby consent to Samaritan’s use of Google Analytics with your information. If you desire to opt out, Google offers a Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on that can prevent Google Analytics JavaScript from sharing information with Google Analytics about visit activity.

Our partners’ use of your information

We contractually require any person or organization providing products or services on our behalf to protect Samaritan members’ information. Medical information that may be contained in your medical bills will always be kept confidential and will only be used by partners for one of two purposes: 1. determining a bill’s eligibility for sharing, and 2. negotiating or repricing the charges. The data will only be accessed or retrieved by authorized personnel, and only to the minimal extent required to carry out these purposes. 

Donation Information Specifics

Samaritan Ministries offers convenient ways for friends of the ministry to donate online. Some information is collected from donors during the process to ensure proper receipt and tracking. This includes: Name, Address, Phone, Email, and Credit Card information, etc.

While this information is not typically shared outside the organization, please let us know if you specifically want any donation-related information restricted from outside parties. You may also contact us to review any personal information (if any) that we currently have on record.

Samaritan takes security of your information very seriously and has several methods for protecting information we collect. Some of these include: physical and logical access controls, firewalls and intrusion protection systems, file monitoring and backup, etc.

For questions or concerns related to our handling of data, our privacy policy, or the security and compliance of member data, please reach out to compliance@samaritanministries.org.

Samaritan Ministries Security and Compliance Team

Please contact us at compliance@samaritanministries.org for more information.