Consumer health data privacy policy.

This Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy explains how shrinkMD Publishing LLC, a Florida limited liability company (“Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), handles “consumer health data” in connection with HandshakeMD, located at handshakemd.com, and related services that we operate collectively as the “Platform.”

This policy is intended to provide disclosures required by consumer health data privacy laws that may apply to the Platform, including the Washington My Health My Data Act and similar state laws.

This policy is separate from our general Privacy Policy. Both apply.

1What is consumer health data

For purposes of this policy, “consumer health data” means personal information that is linked or reasonably linkable to an individual and identifies or relates to that individual's past, present, or future physical or mental health status, health conditions, treatment, diagnoses, symptoms, health services sought, or similar health related information.

Under Washington law, consumer health data can include information identifying a person as seeking healthcare services, and information inferred from non health information if it is processed to associate the person with a physical or mental health status.

Consumer health data is not limited to medical records.

For example, depending on how it is collected and linked, a search such as:

• “therapist for postpartum depression”;
• “OCD psychiatrist near me”;
• “neurologist for seizures”; or
• “OB/GYN accepting new patients”

could potentially constitute consumer health data if the search is linked or reasonably linkable to a particular consumer.

2Our approach to consumer health data

The Platform is designed primarily as a healthcare professional directory, professional referral resource, and provider discovery platform.

We minimize the collection of identifiable consumer health data.

In particular, we do not:

• build consumer medical profiles from searches;
• sell identifiable health related search activity;
• use health related searches for cross context behavioral advertising;
• use health related searches to infer diagnoses for advertising purposes;
• combine health related searches with unrelated commercial profiles;
• collect patient medical records through ordinary directory use; or
• use geofencing to identify individuals seeking healthcare services.

The draft of this policy said that search information should, where practical, be aggregated, deidentified, or separated from persistent identifiers. On this Platform it is separated from persistent identifiers by construction rather than by practice, because the search never reaches us at all. Section 3 explains how.

3Categories of consumer health data we may collect

Consumer health data laws require a policy to identify the categories of consumer health data collected. The four categories below are the ones a provider directory can involve. Each one also says what this Platform actually does today, because a list of categories without that is a disclosure of nothing.

A. Health related search and filter information. A user may search or filter for healthcare professionals based on:

• specialty;
• subspecialty;
• health condition;
• diagnosis related term;
• treatment type;
• population served;
• age group;
• telehealth availability;
• geographic location;
• insurance;
• clinician availability; or
• other healthcare related criteria.

A search or filter alone may not identify the user's health status. If it were linked to an identifiable consumer, it could qualify as consumer health data under applicable law.

On this Platform that link is not possible, because the search does not reach us. The directory is a static file your browser downloads once, and every search and filter runs on your own device. Your search terms are not transmitted to us, are not written to any log we hold, and cannot be recovered by us, because no request leaves your device when you search.

Search terms are also kept out of the web address itself. When a search is reflected in the address bar so a link can be shared or bookmarked, it is written after the # mark, which browsers never send in a request and strip from the referrer. A shared search link therefore does not put a health related term into a request line anywhere, including in the logs of our own hosting provider.

B. Provider discovery activity. We may technically process information concerning:

• professional profiles viewed;
• specialty pages visited;
• searches performed;
• filters selected; or
• referral related pages accessed.

What actually reaches us is the ordinary server request log kept by our hosting provider: a network address, the path requested, a timestamp, and a browser type. Searches performed and filters selected are not in it, for the reason given in part A. A profile page path identifies a clinician rather than a health condition, and we do not combine these logs with any identifier that would associate a request with a named person.

We do not create persistent consumer health profiles. There are no consumer accounts on the Platform to attach one to, and accounts exist only for healthcare professionals managing their own professional listing.

C. Information you voluntarily send to us. If you contact us and voluntarily provide health related information about yourself, we may receive that information.

For example, a consumer might send a support message explaining that they are looking for a clinician for a particular condition.

We discourage users from sending detailed personal medical information to us, because the Platform is not designed to provide clinical care.

D. Technical information that may be associated with health related activity. Technical information such as:

• IP address;
• device information;
• session identifiers;
• browser information; or
• approximate location

could become consumer health data if combined with, or used to associate a person with, health related activity.

We do not make that combination. The Platform sets no cookie, writes nothing to browser storage, and creates no persistent identifier of any kind, so there is nothing that could connect one visit to another or a series of visits to one person. An automated check loads every page, records every network request, and fails the build if a cookie is set, if browser storage is used, or if any request leaves our own domain.

We do not collect precise geolocation. A search by state or city is text you type, processed on your device, and never sent to us.

4Categories of consumer health data we do not intentionally collect through ordinary use

The Platform is not designed to collect:

• medical records;
• treatment notes;
• prescriptions;
• laboratory results;
• diagnostic images;
• patient histories;
• health insurance claim records;
• medical record numbers;
• identifiable clinical referrals;
• precise patient treatment histories; or
• other clinical records

through ordinary directory or provider search functionality.

Healthcare professionals must not submit patient identifiable health information through directory, listing, public referral board, or ordinary messaging features unless the Platform expressly identifies a feature as designed and authorized for that purpose. This is also a term of the Clinician Listing Agreement, and every clinician confirms it by name before a listing request is accepted.

5Sources of consumer health data

Consumer health data may come from the following sources:

• directly from a consumer;
• searches or filters entered by a consumer;
• consumer interactions with the Platform;
• information voluntarily submitted through forms or communications;
• technical information generated during Platform use;
• service providers acting on our behalf; or
• other sources disclosed at the time of collection.

We do not purchase consumer health profiles from data brokers.

Of the sources listed above, only two currently deliver anything to us: information a person chooses to send us in a message, and the ordinary technical request log described in section 3. Searches and filters entered by a consumer are processed on the consumer's own device and are not a source of information to us.

6Why we collect consumer health data

To the extent we collect consumer health data, we may use it for purposes such as:

• performing a provider search requested by the user;
• displaying relevant healthcare professional listings;
• applying user selected filters;
• providing referral or provider discovery functionality;
• responding to a user's request or communication;
• operating and securing the Platform;
• preventing fraud or abuse;
• troubleshooting technical problems;
• measuring Platform performance using aggregated or deidentified information; and
• complying with applicable law.

Under Washington law, collection of consumer health data generally requires consent unless collection is necessary to provide a product or service the consumer requested.

We therefore limit collection to what is reasonably necessary to provide the search, directory, or other service the consumer requests, unless additional consent is obtained.

The first four purposes in that list are performed on your device rather than on our servers. We do not need to collect a search in order to answer it, which is why we do not.

7How we use health related search information

When a user submits a search, the search is processed to return relevant results. That processing happens in the browser, so we do not receive the search.

We do not use identifiable health related search information to:

• determine eligibility for employment;
• determine insurance eligibility;
• establish creditworthiness;
• target health related advertisements across unrelated websites;
• sell health interest profiles;
• make clinical diagnoses; or
• make automated decisions about medical treatment.

We hold no search analytics at all today, aggregated or otherwise. If we ever measure search demand, it will be aggregated or deidentified before it is stored, and this policy will say so first.

8Consumer health data we share

We do not broadly share identifiable consumer health data.

We may disclose limited consumer health data when necessary to provide a product or service requested by the consumer, or when otherwise permitted by applicable law.

Potential categories may include:

• health related search information necessary to generate search results within the Platform;
• limited technical information needed by infrastructure or security vendors;
• information provided to service providers acting on our behalf; or
• information disclosed when required by law.

The first of those categories is currently empty. Generating your search results requires no disclosure to anyone, because the results are produced on your own device from a file it already has.

We do not share identifiable consumer health data with third party advertising networks for cross context behavioral advertising.

9Categories of third parties and affiliates

Depending on the Platform's technical architecture, consumer health data may be processed by limited categories of service providers such as:

• website hosting providers;
• cloud infrastructure providers;
• database providers;
• security providers;
• fraud prevention providers;
• analytics providers configured to minimize identifiable health information;
• technical support providers; and
• professional advisers where legally necessary.

Naming the actual vendors is more useful than naming categories, so here they are in full. The Platform uses three:

• Cloudflare, for hosting, edge computing, and the database that holds clinician listing and confirmation records;
• Resend, for sending email to clinicians about their own listings; and
• the public National Provider Identifier registry operated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which we query with a submitted NPI to check it against the federal record.

We have no analytics vendor and no advertising vendor. None of the three vendors above receives consumer health data, and none of them receives a search term, because no search term leaves your device.

Washington law requires disclosure of both the categories of third parties and the specific affiliates with whom consumer health data is shared. Affiliates: we do not currently share consumer health data with Company affiliates. If that ever changes, this section changes before the sharing starts.

10Service providers

Service providers that process consumer health data on our behalf are required to process it only as permitted by applicable agreements and law.

Where consumer health data laws apply, we require processors to process such data consistently with this policy and applicable legal requirements.

Washington law specifically prohibits contracting with a processor to handle consumer health data inconsistently with the published consumer health data privacy policy. Our practice is to keep the list of processors short enough to state by name, which is section 9, so that this policy and the contracts cannot quietly diverge.

11We do not sell consumer health data

We do not sell consumer health data.

For purposes of this policy, “sell” has the meaning provided by applicable consumer health data law.

If our practices ever change, we will update this policy and obtain any separate authorization required by law before selling consumer health data.

Washington law requires a separate valid authorization before a person may sell consumer health data. We do not seek such authorizations, because we do not engage in the activity that would require one.

The Company also does not sell patient referrals or accept payment to direct a specific patient to a specific clinician, which is a separate commitment stated in our Terms of Use.

12We do not use consumer health data for behavioral advertising

We do not disclose identifiable health related search or provider discovery activity to advertising networks for targeted or cross context behavioral advertising.

We do not deploy advertising pixels or comparable tracking technologies on any page of the Platform. There is no Meta Pixel, no remarketing tag, and no third party script anywhere on the site, and the automated check described in section 3 fails the build if one appears.

Placing such a tag on a provider search page, a search result page, or a clinician profile page is prohibited by our own engineering rule, and would require legal review and an appropriate consent flow before it could even be considered.

13Geofencing

We do not use geofencing technology to:

• identify or track consumers seeking healthcare services;
• collect consumer health data from individuals at or near healthcare facilities;
• send health related messages or advertisements based on presence near a healthcare facility; or
• infer that a person is seeking or receiving healthcare based on precise location.

Washington law prohibits the use of geofences around healthcare facilities for specified purposes involving consumer health data. We collect no precise location at all, so we have nothing with which to build one.

14Consent

Where consent is required, we will request consent before collecting or sharing consumer health data.

A request for consent will clearly identify:

• the categories of consumer health data involved;
• the purpose of collection or sharing;
• how the information will be used;
• the categories of entities with whom it may be shared; and
• how consent may be withdrawn.

Washington law requires consent for collection, and a separate and distinct consent for sharing, unless the activity is necessary to provide a product or service requested by the consumer.

We are not currently asking anyone for such consent, because the Platform is built so that the search a consumer requests can be answered without collecting it.

15Consumer rights

Depending on applicable law, you may have rights relating to your consumer health data.

These may include the right to:

• confirm whether we collect, share, or sell your consumer health data;
• access consumer health data;
• obtain information about sources from which it was collected;
• obtain information about parties with whom it was shared;
• withdraw consent;
• request deletion;
• request deletion from processors or other third parties where required;
• receive a copy of certain consumer health data; and
• appeal a denial of a rights request.

Washington's law provides consumers with access, withdrawal, and deletion rights, and requires regulated entities to maintain a process for handling and appealing requests.

Because of how the Platform is built, our honest answer to most access requests will be that we hold no consumer health data about you. We will say so specifically rather than sending a form response, and we will tell you what we do hold if anything.

16How to exercise your rights

To submit a consumer health data request, email [email protected] and identify your request as a Consumer Health Data Privacy Request. There is no separate form to fill in, and no account is needed.

We may request information reasonably necessary to authenticate your identity and to determine whether applicable law covers the request. We will ask for the minimum needed to do that.

We will not require you to create an account solely to exercise privacy rights.

We aim to respond within 45 days, and where a law permits an extension we will tell you before taking one. There is no charge for a request, and making one will never affect a clinician's listing or its position in search results.

17Withdrawing consent

Where we process consumer health data based on consent, you may withdraw consent for future collection or sharing by emailing [email protected].

Withdrawal does not necessarily affect processing that was lawful before the withdrawal.

18Deletion requests

If you make a valid deletion request, we will delete covered consumer health data as required by applicable law, subject to lawful exceptions.

Certain laws may require us to communicate the deletion request to processors or other recipients.

Technical backup systems may require additional time for complete deletion where permitted by law.

Washington's law specifically provides consumers with the right to request deletion of consumer health data, including data held in archived or backup systems, subject to the statute's requirements.

A deletion request that concerns a clinician's own professional listing is handled under the Clinician Listing Agreement, which also explains what records we retain after a listing comes down.

19Appeals

If we deny a consumer health data request, in whole or in part, and applicable law provides a right to appeal, we will explain why and how to appeal.

Appeals may be submitted to [email protected] with the word appeal in the subject line. We will respond in writing within the timeframe required by applicable law.

Where a law requires it, we will also give you the contact details for the relevant state authority so you can complain if you remain dissatisfied.

20No discrimination

We will not unlawfully discriminate against you for exercising rights provided by applicable consumer health data privacy laws.

21Data security

We use administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards that we believe are reasonably appropriate to protect consumer health data. These include:

• access controls;
• authentication;
• logging;
• encryption where appropriate;
• vendor controls;
• technical safeguards;
• data minimization; and
• limiting employee or contractor access to information necessary for legitimate purposes.

The strongest safeguard on this Platform is the one that is structural rather than administrative. Data we never collect cannot be breached, misused by a vendor, or produced under a subpoena.

No system can be guaranteed completely secure.

22Data minimization

Our compliance approach is to minimize consumer health data rather than collect it broadly and then justify it.

In practice we:

• attach no raw health search term to any persistent user account;
• retain no identifiable search histories;
• keep no search analytics, aggregated or otherwise;
• use no third party trackers;
• place no third party advertising pixel on any page;
• keep retention periods short; and
• limit access to identifiable information.

Three of those are engineering rules rather than preferences, and they hold whatever a future feature request asks for. No remarketing tag goes on a provider search, result, or profile page. No raw health related search is saved into an identifiable user profile unless a feature genuinely requires it and counsel has approved the consent flow first. No raw search term is placed in a URL, a query string, or anything else handed to a third party analytics service.

23Retention

We retain consumer health data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as otherwise permitted or required by law.

Health related search information is retained in identifiable form only for as long as necessary to provide the requested service, unless another lawful basis or consent applies. On this Platform that period is zero, because the search is answered on your device and never stored by us.

Aggregated or deidentified information may be retained longer.

24Deidentified information

Information that has been deidentified so that it is not reasonably linkable to an individual may not constitute consumer health data under applicable law.

We may use deidentified or aggregated information for purposes such as:

• analytics;
• service improvement;
• research;
• operational planning;
• provider demand analysis; or
• reporting.

We will not intentionally attempt to reidentify information that we maintain as deidentified, except as permitted by law.

25Locally processed tools

The Platform offers tools that process information locally within a user's browser or device without transmitting that information to the Company.

When a tool is expressly identified as locally processed:

• the information entered is not intended to be received by the Company;
• the information is not stored in Company systems;
• the user remains responsible for the security of the user's device and environment; and
• this policy applies only to information actually collected or processed by the Company.

For example, the Good Faith Estimate tool processes the information entered into it entirely within your browser and does not transmit that information to the Company. The Company does not collect that information merely because the tool is hosted on the Platform.

26Information about healthcare professionals

Professional information concerning a healthcare provider acting in a professional capacity is not treated in the same manner as consumer health data relating to an individual acting in a personal or household context.

For example, information that a psychiatrist treats depression is professional directory information about the psychiatrist, not information about the psychiatrist's personal health. Clinicians submit that information themselves, for the purpose of publication.

Washington's statutory definition of “consumer” excludes an individual acting in an employment context.

27Children's consumer health data

The Platform is not designed for children to create accounts or submit personal health information.

We do not knowingly seek consumer health data directly from children through ordinary Platform functionality.

If we learn that information has been collected from a child in circumstances requiring parental consent or other legal protections, we will address the information in accordance with applicable law.

28Third party websites

The Platform may link to healthcare professionals, practices, scheduling services, insurers, or other third party websites.

Once you leave the Platform, the third party's privacy practices apply.

We do not control how third parties independently collect or use consumer health data.

29Changes to this policy

We may update this Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy as our services or legal obligations change. If what the Platform collects changes, this policy changes first.

The specific changes that would require revising it include:

• search terms beginning to reach our servers rather than staying in the browser;
• the introduction of any cookie, browser storage, or persistent identifier;
• adding an analytics or advertising vendor;
• introducing accounts for consumers rather than only for clinicians;
• any change that makes browsing or search activity linkable to an identified person; or
• the collection of precise geolocation.

If we propose to collect, use, or share additional categories of consumer health data, or to use existing consumer health data for materially different purposes, we will provide any disclosures and obtain any affirmative consent required by applicable law before doing so.

Washington law expressly prohibits collecting, using, or sharing additional categories of consumer health data, or using it for additional undisclosed purposes, without first updating disclosures and obtaining affirmative consent when required. We will post a revised version with a new date.

30Contact information

Questions or requests concerning consumer health data may be directed to:

shrinkMD Publishing LLC
Operator of HandshakeMD
Consumer health data requests: [email protected]
Northwest Registered Agent LLC, 7901 4th St N Ste 300, St. Petersburg, FL 33702