In recent years (and particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic), patients across the country have been using telehealth services to meet their needs. This might include anything from a doctor’s visit, to ordering a prescription, to seeking a referral. Many patients are familiar with HIPAA laws and the sensitivity of your medical data, and telehealth platforms can offer these same reassurances. However, there’s evidence that those reassurances are void; indeed, Big Tech companies may be tracking your prescriptions and medical data to sell to advertisers.
YOUR TELEHEALTH PROVIDER MAY BE SELLING YOUR DATA
An investigation by The Markup and STAT, a publication about health, medicine, and life sciences, found that 49 out of 50 telehealth services investigated were sending your data to Big Tech giants like Meta, Amazon, and Google.[1] This means that very sensitive information is being scraped directly off of what patients may believe is a secure website or app and sold directly to advertisers. And this is not merely like shopping at an online retailer; this information could include medical diagnoses, searches for substance use treatment centers, and other bits of information that Big Tech can use to profit off of your data.
The following telehealth services were investigated and shown to be sharing sensitive patients’ data to Big Tech:
- Amazon Clinic
- Apostrophe
- Bicycle Health
- Boulder Care
- Brightline
- Brightside
- Calibrate
- Cerebral
- Clearing
- Cove
- Curology
- DearBrightly
- Done.
- Dorsal
- Eleanor Health
- Elektra Health
- Facet
- Favor
- Folx
- Found
- Gennev
- Hers
- Hims
- Keeps
- Kick Health
- KwikMed
- Lemonaid
- Mantra Health
- Mindbloom
- Minded
- Mistr
- Monument
- Musely
- Nue Life
- Nurx
- Oar
- Ophelia
- Picnic
- Plum
- PRJKTRUBY
- QCare Plus
- RexMD
- Roman
- Rory
- Strut Health
- Talkiatry
- Talkspace
- Wisp
- Wondermed
- WorkIt
SEE YOUR TELEHEALTH PROVIDER ON THIS LIST?
This sharing of sensitive medical data without patients’ knowledge is a violation of privacy and violate several state and federal laws. To learn more about these issues, or if you use one of these sites and you’re concerned about your data being sold, please contact one of our attorneys using our general contact form, call us at (856) 772-7200, or email us at info@shublawyers.com
[1] https://themarkup.org/privacy/2022/12/13/out-of-control-dozens-of-telehealth-startups-sent-sensitive-health-information-to-big-tech-companies