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Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy shall be effective starting on Dec 10th, 2024. 

Last updated: Dec 10, 2024

Introduction

HealthMatters.io LLC (“HealthMatters”) recognizes the importance of privacy and respects your desire to store and access your information in a private and secure manner. This Privacy Policy is intended to make you aware of how we handle your Personal Information. We are committed to providing you a secure, user-controlled website (www.HealthMatters.io) and environment for the use of our services (each a "service," and collectively the "services"). At the same time, you share responsibility for maintaining privacy and security - for example, by keeping your password secure. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with this Privacy Policy.

By using our website and signing up for the HealthMatters services, you are allowing us to collect, use and process your Personal Information according to the provisions set forth in this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions regarding this Policy, please contact us at support@healthmatters.io.

By voluntarily providing us with Personal Information, you are consenting to our use of it in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you provide Personal Information to HealthMatters, you acknowledge and agree that such Personal Information may be transferred from your current location to the offices and servers of HealthMatters and the authorized third parties referred to herein.

At no time shall Personal Information collected from you in accordance with this Privacy Policy or any information or materials derived from such Personal Information be deemed to be an electronic health record or an electronic medical record for any purpose whatsoever under any law or regulation, including without limitation for purposes of compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

Your personal information

In the course of your relationship with HealthMatters, we collect several types of Personal Information. Personal Information is information that could be used to identify you, either alone or in combination with other information. We collect such information from you when you purchase our services, use the website, create a personal account, complete surveys and forms, or when you communicate with us or request information from us. Personal Information collected online can be combined with Personal Information collected offline. We collect five primary types of Personal Information through our services and website.

  1. Registration Information is information that we collect from you when you purchase or sign up for the HealthMatters services. Examples of such information include your name, age, ZIP code, and contact information, such as an email address. We also collect your credit card information to process payment for HealthMatters.

  2. Self-Reported Biomarker Information includes not only your blood test result information, but also other information you provide on the HealthMatters platform, such as ethnicity, gender, body weight, pulse rate, etc.

  3. User Content is all information other than blood test information or self-reported information provided by the users of the HealthMatters services and transmitted, whether publicly or privately, to HealthMatters. User content may include data, text, software, music, audio, photographs, graphics, video, messages, or other materials. For example, user content includes posts made to the HealthMatters community forums or emails to customer support.

  4. Web Behavior Information is information on how you use the website (e.g. browser type, domains, pageviews) collected through log files, cookies, and web beacon technology.

How we use registration information

We use your registration information to authenticate your website visits and usage, to enable your purchases, to communicate with you about information, services, and products that you have requested, and to manage and improve our website, software, and services. We may also use this information to offer you services and products that may be of interest to you or invite you to participate in specific research projects. We give you the opportunity to opt out of optional communications, either through the HealthMatters services or by contacting us at support@healthmatters.io.

How we use blood test results and self-reported information

We use your blood test information and self-reported information to provide you with HealthMatter’s tracking solution, to customize your user experience, and enhance our services. Self-reported information is used to further customize your user experience. We may include your anonymized blood test information and self-reported information in disclosures to third parties for the purpose of research or other applications, but no identifying information will be shared without your prior knowledge and consent. HealthMatters research is intended to advance health, wellness and nutrition knowledge and to create, commercialize, or undertake activities toward the practical applications of this learning to the improvement of health care. Our research partners may include commercial or non-profit organizations that conduct or support medical research or conduct or support the development of drugs or devices to diagnose, predict, or treat health conditions.

How we use user content and web behavior information

We use user content to provide our services and improve the overall user experience. For example, posts made to the HealthMatters community forums are publicly displayed to other users. Web behavior information is collected through log files, cookies, and web beacon technology during a visit to the website. Web behavior information is used to improve our services and the overall user experience. We may also use this information to offer you products and services that we think you may be interested in.

Log files

When users visit the website, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information may include Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet service Provider, referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data (i.e. a list of pages or URLs visited). We use this information, which is not designed to identify individual users, to analyze trends, administer the website, track users' movements around the website, and gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. We may, in some circumstances, need to review this automatically collected data in combination with specific registration information to identify and resolve issues for individual users, detect fraud, etc.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies. A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user's computer when visiting certain websites. We use both session cookies and persistent cookies to make it easier for you to navigate the website, improve the security of your personal information, enhance the functionality of certain features, and improve performance. The cookies we employ are used to enable secure access to your account when you are signed in to your account and are only applicable within the confines of our website. A session cookie expires when you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time. You can remove persistent cookies by following directions provided in your Internet browser's help file. However, if you set your browser to reject cookies, your ability to use our website will be significantly impaired. In particular, you will not be able to access any part of our website that requires a sign-in, such as your account.

Web beacons

A web beacon is a clear graphic image that is loaded by your web browser when it accesses a website and that records a user's visit to a particular web page. We, or third parties that work for us, may place web beacons on our website, in our emails, and in our advertisements that appear on other websites or in emails sent by others that mention our products and services with our permission. The purpose of our web beacons is to support operation of our website and to offer additional products and services through targeted advertisements. For example, we may use beacons to determine when someone views a web page, count how many individuals visit our website after clicking advertisements placed on other websites, or count how many people have purchased products from our website after viewing an advertisement we placed. Web beacons may also help us determine the effectiveness of an email campaign because the beacons can count the number of individuals who open an email or forward it to others. We use this web behavior information to better tailor our marketing to you and may also use this information to customize content on our website, enable a shopping cart, or conduct research. Third parties only collect anonymous web behavior information through the use of web beacons, allowing statistical analysis relating to the performance of our advertising. If you wish to disable web beacons, it is possible to prevent your browser from loading them, although there is not currently a standard method for doing so.

Information sharing

We give you the ability to connect with other individuals who have HealthMatters accounts. We recommend that you make such choices carefully. Personal information, once released or shared, can be difficult to contain. We will have no responsibility or liability for any consequences that may result because you have released or shared personal information with a third party. Likewise, if you are reading this because you have access to the personal information of an HealthMatters customer through a multi-profile account, we urge you to recognize your responsibility to protect the privacy of that person. It is incumbent upon customers to share personal information only with people they know and trust. Users with multi-profile accounts should use caution in setting profile-level privacy settings.

Sharing Your Data with Your Doctor

HealthMatters offers a functionality that allows you to share your lab results and other medical data directly with your doctor by inviting them to the platform. Once invited, your doctor will have access to view the lab results and data you choose to share. You can revoke this access at any time through your account settings. By inviting your doctor and granting them access to your data, you explicitly agree to share your medical information with them. This functionality complies with applicable data protection regulations, including GDPR and HIPAA. Please note, however, that HealthMatters is not responsible for how your doctor handles your data once access is granted, including who they may share it with or the medical advice or consultations they provide. We encourage you to discuss data privacy and confidentiality directly with your doctor if you have concerns.

Children

The website and services are intended for adults. Users under the age of eighteen (18) are not permitted to use the HealthMatters services.

Exclusions

This Privacy Policy shall not apply to any unsolicited information you provide to HealthMatters through our website or through any other means. This includes, but is not limited to, information posted to any public areas of the website, such as bulletin boards, any ideas for new products or modifications to existing products, and other unsolicited submissions (collectively, "Unsolicited Information"). All Unsolicited Information shall be deemed to be non-confidential and HealthMatters shall be free to reproduce, use, disclose, and distribute such Unsolicited Information to others without limitation or attribution.

Information disclosure

As a general rule, we will not disclose your individual-level Personal Information to any third party, except under the following circumstances:

Information disclosure required by law

Under certain circumstances, Personal Information may be subject to disclosure pursuant to judicial or other government subpoenas, warrants, or orders. You acknowledge and agree that HealthMatters is free to preserve and disclose any and all Personal Information to law enforcement agencies or others if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process (such as a judicial proceeding, court order, or government inquiry) or obligations that HealthMatters may owe pursuant to ethical and other professional rules, laws, and regulations; (b) enforce the HealthMatters Terms of Use(c) respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of HealthMatters, its employees, its users, its clients, and the public. In such event we will notify you through the contact information you have provided to us in advance, unless doing so would violate the law or a court order.

Linked websites

We may provide links to third-party websites operated by organizations not affiliated with HealthMatters. HealthMatters does not review or endorse, and is not responsible for, the privacy practices of these organizations. We encourage you to read the privacy Policies of each and every website that you visit. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by HealthMatters.

Account closure and correction of personal information

If you no longer wish to participate in our services, you may close your account by sending a request to Customer Support at support@healthmatters.io. When closing an account, we remove all Blood Test Information within your account (or profile) within thirty (30) days of our receipt of your request. However, blood test information or self-reported information that you have previously provided and for which you have given consent to use will not be removed from ongoing or completed studies or business activities that use the information (such as anonymized statistical information). In addition, we retain limited registration information related to your order history (e.g., name, contact, and transaction data) for accounting and compliance purposes. If your Personal Information changes, you may correct or update your registration information via your profile page.

Security

We take seriously the trust you place in us. To prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, to maintain data accuracy, and to ensure the appropriate use of information, we use a range of physical, technical, and administrative measures to safeguard your personal information, in accordance with current technological and industry standards. Please recognize that protecting your personal information is also your responsibility. We ask you to be responsible for safeguarding your password, secret questions and answers, and other authentication information you use to access our services. You should not disclose your authentication information to any third party and should immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your password. We cannot secure personal information that you release on your own or that you request us to release.

Business transitions

In the event that HealthMatters goes through a business transition such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, your Personal Information will likely be among the assets transferred. You will be notified via email or a notice on the website of any such change in ownership or control of your Personal Information as well as any choices you may have regarding your Personal Information.

Privacy and security policies

We reserve the right to update our privacy and security policies and practices from time to time at our sole discretion. We will employ commercially reasonable technical and organizational safeguards against unauthorized disclosure or access to your data or other personally identifiable information about you, consistent with our Privacy Policy. HOWEVER, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SECURITY SAFEGUARDS, BY THEIR NATURE, ARE CAPABLE OF CIRCUMVENTION AND HEALTHMATTERS DOES NOT AND CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU WILL NOT BE ACCESSED BY UNAUTHORIZED PERSONS CAPABLE OF OVERCOMING SUCH SAFEGUARDS. IN PARTICULAR, OUR SITE MAY BE USED TO ACCESS AND TRANSFER INFORMATION, INCLUDING PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU OVER THE INTERNET. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT HEALTHMATTERS DOES NOT OPERATE OR CONTROL THE INTERNET AND THAT UNAUTHORIZED USERS (SUCH AS HACKERS) MAY USE VIRUSES, WORMS, TROJAN HORSES, KEYSTROKE LOGGERS AND OTHER UNDESIRABLE DATA AND SOFTWARE TO OBTAIN ACCESS TO OR DAMAGE OUR SITE OR TO ACCESS PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU. Furthermore, we cannot be responsible for any personally identifiable information about you that you release on your own, or that you request or authorize us to release.