CouchMD Privacy Policy.
Effective Date: July 22, 2021
INTRODUCTION
This Privacy Policy describes the collection, use and disclosure policies and procedures that govern your information in connection with your interactions with CouchMD, Inc., (“CouchMD” or “We or “Us”). Such interactions include but are not limited to your use of any applications, websites found and published at www.couchmd.ca and such other locations on the internet as made available from time to time by us, content and products and services operated by CouchMD (collectively referred to as the “Platform”), and any contact between you and our representatives (unless specifically excluded herein) whether transmitted via the Platform, facsimile, electronic correspondence, texts, verbally, video or in-person (collectively, the “Interactions”). When engaging in any of the Interactions regardless of whether you have requested or received any of the services offered via the Platform including but not limited to the Health Services and Medical Information Services (collectively, the “Platform Services”), you consent to the collection, transfer, manipulation, storage, disclosure and other uses of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. Irrespective of which country you reside in or create information from, your information may be used by us in Canada. The Interactions and Platform Services are collectively defined herein as the “Services”. For clarity, the term “you” or “your” refers also to you on behalf of your Dependent(s), as defined below, where applicable.
Please note that this policy does not apply to the collection, use, management, disclosure and destruction of your Personal Information by Permitted Healthcare Personnel. Permitted Healthcare Personnel are subject to privacy legislation and professional requirements that govern the collection, use and management of any information that they are exposed to in the course of their provision of their services. Therefore, the following is only a general overview of their collection, use, management, disclosure and destruction of Personal Information. A particular Permitted Healthcare Professional may or may not choose to collect or use Personal Information as described herein in connection with a particular Interaction. Please contact the respective Permitted Healthcare Professional directly if you have any questions or concerns about their specific collection, use or management of your Personal Information.
This Privacy Policy is in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents.
Act (“PIPEDA”), the federal privacy law for private-sector organizations. We will ensure compliance with PIPEDA, as amended by the Digital Privacy Act (“DPA”) as well as with the Personal Health Information Protection Act (“PHIPA”), where applicable. In the event of a conflict between any provision of this Privacy Policy and the governing statute noted above, the governing statute will govern for such provision.
DEFINITIONS
“Dependent” means individuals for whom you have the legal authority to make decisions regarding Healthcare including but not limited for whom you are the legal guardian.
“Medical Information Services” means any services relating to the provision of general information about a physical or mental impairment which is not specific to any individual and which is for educational purposes only.
“Healthcare” means any services relating to the maintenance or improvement of an individual’s health to prevent, diagnose, treat, recover or cure such individual’s disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments.
“Health Services” means the Healthcare services provided by Permitted Healthcare Personnel via the Platform.
“Permitted Healthcare Providers” means regulated healthcare professionals other than physicians licensed to provide Healthcare who are authorized by CouchMD to provide Platform Services through the Platform.
“Permitted Physicians” means physicians licensed to practice medicine who are authorized by CouchMD to provide Platform Services through the Platform.
“Permitted Healthcare Personnel” means Permitted Physicians and Permitted Healthcare Providers.
“Personal Information” means any information, recorded in any form, about an identified individual or an individual whose identity may be inferred or determined from such information, other than business contact information (e.g. name, title, business address) or information readily available to the public. This includes, but is NOT limited to, name, date of birth, home address, contact information, email address, payment information, if applicable, Personal Health Information, and emergency contact information.
“Personal Health Information” means identifying information about an individual, if the information (a) relates to the individual’s physical or mental health, including their health history, (b) relates to the provision of Healthcare to the individual, including the identification of a person as a provider of Healthcare to the individual, (c) relates to the individual’s payments or eligibility for Healthcare or coverage for Healthcare or (d) is the individual’s health number.
“Telemedicine” means the use of telecommunications technology and information technologies such as video conference, telephone, e-mail and instant messaging which allow a Permitted Healthcare Personnel to provide Platform Services to you while in a separate physical location from you.
COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Any Interaction may result in our collection of Personal Information. We collect Personal Information directly from you, or indirectly from third party sources as otherwise permitted by applicable law.
a) Information collected on the Platform including but not limited to, names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, health card numbers, birthdates, sex, and other medical information will be stored in CouchMD’s electronic medical record, email and phone system.
b) Log Data: Our servers automatically record information (“Log Data”) related to your actions on the Platform. Log Data may include information such as your IP address, browser type, internet service provider, date/time stamps, the referring domain, pages visited, products viewed and search terms. Other actions, such as interactions with the Platform may be also included in Log Data. Log Data may also be recorded by third party websites.
c) Links: The Platform may keep track of how you interact with links by redirecting clicks or through other means. We do this to help improve our Services, and to be able to share aggregate click statistics such as how many times a particular link was clicked on. The Platform may also use tracking technologies such as web beacons, tags and pixels to record information about how you browse the Platform.
d) Cookies: Like many websites, we use “cookie” technology to collect additional Platform usage data and to improve our Services, but we do not require cookies for many parts of the Platform. A cookie is a small data file that is transferred to your computer’s hard disk. The Platform may use both session cookies and persistent cookies to better understand how you interact with our Platform, to monitor aggregate usage by our users and web traffic routing, and to improve our Services. Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies. You can instruct your browser, by editing its options, to stop accepting cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit. However, keep in mind that this may disrupt the Services being provided to you.
e) Device Identifiers: When you use a mobile device like a tablet or cell phone to access our Platform, we may access, collect, monitor, store on your device, and/or remotely store one or more “device identifiers.” A device identifier may be data stored in connection with the device hardware, data stored in connection with the device’s operating system or other software, or data sent to your device.
f) E-Mail and Instant Messaging: You may decide to send us Personal Information in an e-mail message or instant message.
g) Third Party Services: We use a variety of services hosted by third parties to help provide our Services, and to help us understand the use of our Platform, such as Google Analytics. These services may collect information sent by your browser as part of a web page request, such as cookies or your IP request.
Permitted Healthcare Personnel: Permitted Healthcare Personnel may create or compile information such as prescriptions, sick notes and medical notes in relation to any Interaction with you (collectively the “Notes”). While providing you with the requested Platform Services which will involve Telemedicine, Permitted Healthcare Personnel may also collect additional Personal Information about you. Subject to your withholding rights as noted below, Permitted Healthcare Personnel will have access to the Personal Information.. Such Personal Information may include but is not limited to: details you provided in your request for consultations, Notes created by other Permitted Healthcare Personnel, and emergency contact information (please note that you are responsible for notifying your emergency contact that you are providing their information to CouchMD and for obtaining their consent). Permitted Healthcare Personnel may also print copies of your Personal Information as necessary to provide the requested Platform Services and to comply with applicable laws. Permitted Healthcare Personnel may also authorize us to provide additional services to you such as i) sending your prescription to your chosen pharmacy, (ii) obtaining lab results on behalf of the Permitted Health Personnel or iii) referring you to a specialist and will provide us with the Notes and any additional relevant Personal Information about you they may have collected or compiled. We will use such information solely for the purposes authorized by the Permitted Healthcare Personnel.
HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION
Health Services: When requesting Health Services, you may be asked to provide information regarding the services you seek, medical history and applicable symptoms relevant to your request. The Platform will present such information as well as your identity to a Permitted Healthcare Professional for approval. Once your request has been approved, we disclose the identity of the Permitted Healthcare Professional to you. Afterwards, unless you have chosen to withhold access to your Personal Information stored in the Platform, the Permitted Healthcare Personnel assigned to you will be able to view such information in order to provide the requested Health Services via email, text, telephone or video. Please note that in some circumstances, the withholding of information may severely limit the Permitted Healthcare Personnel’s ability to provide you with the requested Health Services. CouchMD reserves the right to notify you at any time using any Personal Information you have provided that a Permitted Healthcare Professional has denied your request on the basis that it constitutes a medical emergency.
Platform: In addition to some of the specific uses of Personal Information we describe in this Privacy Policy, we may use such information or share such information to:
a) confirm your eligibility to use the Platform, authenticate you when you use the Platform and personalize your experience on the Platform;
b) determine your eligibility for any requested Platform Services;
c) connect you to the appropriate Permitted Healthcare Professional, and to disclose the Personal Information necessary to facilitate the requested Platform Services;
d) establish, maintain and manage client relations with you so that we may provide you with the requested Services;
e) provide personalized content and information to you and others, which could include online ads or other forms of marketing (you can choose not to receive any electronic marketing communications from us by clicking the Unsubscribe” function contained in all of our electronic communications or by emailing admin@couchmd.ca);
f) receive your feedback and provide ongoing customer service to you;
g) develop and test new products or services and features and improve our level of service;
h) communicate additional service offerings for products, whether they be through CouchMD or third parties (e.g. therapy, mental health, product resources) via email/text/phone or video;
i) provide information about the Platform including updates and notifications;
j) monitor metrics such as total number of visitors, users, traffic, and demographic patterns;
k) facilitate payments for Platform Services;
l) diagnose or fix technology problems;
m) meet legal and regulatory requirements; and
n) such other purposes consistent with these objectives and as may be permitted or required by applicable law.
Information about you and your use of the Services may be aggregated with other information in ways that do not personally identify you (the “Aggregated Information”) or constitute Personal Information. This type of aggregated or statistical information may be used by us to improve the quality of the Services or for other purposes that we may deem appropriate.
INFORMATION SHARING AND DISCLOSURE
Our use of Personal Information is limited to the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and we do not otherwise sell, trade, barter, exchange or disclose for consideration any Personal Information that we have obtained. We will not share your Personal Information with any third party except we may disclose your Private Information in the limited circumstances described herein.
a) Your Consent: We may share or disclose your information with your consent. Consent can be either express (verbally, in writing or electronically) or implied, where permitted under applicable law. In determining the appropriate form of consent, we will consider the sensitivity of the information. When you provide your Personal Information voluntarily on the Platform or to a Permitted Healthcare Professional, you imply that you have consented to the collection, use and disclosure of such information. You or on behalf of a Dependent, may change or withdraw your/their consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice, by contacting us at; admin@couchmd.ca. Please note that in some circumstances, a change in or withdrawal of consent may severely limit our ability to provide the requested services.
b) Without Consent: Please note that there are circumstances where the use and/or disclosure of your Personal Information may be justified or permitted or where we are obliged to disclose information WITHOUT consent. Such circumstances are consistent with PIPEDA and the DPA and may include, but are not limited to the following: if we believe that it is reasonably necessary to comply with a law, regulation or legal request; to protect the safety of any person; to address fraud, security or technical issues; or to protect our rights or property.
c) Non-Personal Information: We may share or disclose Aggregated Information derived from your information or your non-Personal Information.
d) Service Providers: We may share Personal Information with Permitted Healthcare Personnel, your emergency contacts, our employees, and contractors and business partners, to the extent required for them to provide the services you have requested or for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. We engage certain trusted third parties to perform functions and provide services to us such as website hosting companies, payment processing companies (Square and PayPal) and other third-party service providers. We may share Personal Information with these third parties, but only to the extent necessary to perform these functions and provide such services, and only pursuant to obligations mirroring the protections of this Privacy Policy.
e) Business Transfers: In the event that we are involved in a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets, your information may be disclosed or transferred as part of that transaction. The promises and exceptions in this Privacy Policy will apply to your Personal Information as transferred to the new entity with the same exceptions herein.
f) Governmental: We may share Personal Information with government agencies and law enforcement officials, when required to do so to respond to subpoenas, court orders or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims.
ACCESSING, MODIFYING AND DISPOSING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Personnel Generated Information: Unless otherwise provided by law, CouchMD only holds information on behalf of you and Permitted Healthcare Personnel. All requests to access or modify your Personal Information collected, used or managed by Permitted Healthcare Personnel including but not limited to the Notes (collectively, the “Personnel Generated Information”) should be sent directly to the appropriate Permitted Healthcare Personnel.
User-Generated Personal Information: We endeavour to ensure that your Personal Information except the Personnel Generated Information (collectively the “User-Generated Personal Information”) is accurate, current and complete as possible to fulfill the purposes for which the information has been collected, used, retained and disclosed. You may email us at admin@couchmd.ca to request access to review, challenge the accuracy of or request deletion of the User-Generated Personal Information held by us and to request corrections and we will respond within a reasonable time. To guard against fraudulent requests, we may require sufficient information to allow us to confirm that the person making the request is authorized to do so before granting access or modifying any User-Generated Personal Information. We may also deny your request if permitted or required by law and if so, provide you with the reasons for the denial.
If you successfully demonstrate the inaccuracy or incompleteness of any of the User-Generated Personal Information, we will amend or delete such information as required. If we do not agree on the resolution to your satisfaction, we will document the substance of the unresolved challenge.
Where appropriate, we will transmit the amended information or the existence of the unresolved challenge, as the case may be, to third parties having access to the information in question so that they may modify their records accordingly. We are however, not responsible nor liable for the failure of such third parties to update their records.
On behalf of your Dependent, you can email us to request access to review, modify, replace or request deletion of their User-Generated Personal Information. We may require evidence of your authority to act for the Dependent prior to responding to your request.
Protection of Personal Information and Disclaimer: We endeavor to maintain appropriate physical, procedural and technical security with respect to our offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, or modification of Personal Information. This also applies to the disposal or destruction of Personal Information. We further protect your Personal Information and any financial or payment information by restricting its access to those employees and contractors who need to have knowledge of that information in order for us to provide our Services, as determined by our management. While we continue to work hard to protect your Personal Information, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be absolutely secure, and we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us via the Platform or otherwise; any transmission is at your own risk.
INFORMATION RETENTION
Personnel Generated Information: As mentioned previously, CouchMD is not a custodian for any Personnel Generated Information. Please make a request for deletion of such information directly to the Permitted Healthcare Personnel.
Permitted Healthcare Personnel may be required by their professional governing bodies to retain certain information, and on such Permitted Healthcare Personnel’s request, we will retain such information until such Personnel has the opportunity to make a copy. If you would like your Personal Information deleted, please contact us at admin@couchmd.ca and we will let you know the procedure. Once you have had the opportunity to print or make copies of your Personal Information, and, subject to any retention requests by any Permitted Healthcare Personnel as noted above, CouchMD will destroy your Personal Information.
CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most current version of the policy will govern our use of Personal Information and will be located on this page unless we notify you otherwise. Please check this page periodically for updates. By continuing to access or use the Services after those changes become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised Privacy Policy.
CONTACT US
If you have any questions, concerns, complains, requests or comments regarding your Personal Information or our Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
5 Camelot Court
Toronto, Ontario
M3B 2N4