Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how PULSE (“we,” “us,” or “our”), operated by [LEGAL_ENTITY_NAME], collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal information when you visit or interact with our platform at https://pulsewithcare.com, including our practitioner directory, patient portal, appointment request system, and connected integrations.

If you have questions, feedback, or wish to exercise any of your privacy rights described in this policy, you can contact our privacy team directly:

• Entity Name: [LEGAL_ENTITY_NAME]
• Privacy & Support Email: [CONTACT_EMAIL]
• Mailing Address: [MAILING_ADDRESS if required]

Please note that PULSE provides a platform for discovering independent healthcare practitioners and requesting consultations. This policy applies strictly to PULSE’s platform services and does not replace or supersede an individual healthcare practitioner’s separate clinical privacy notice or professional obligations.

We only collect personal information that is relevant and necessary to provide, secure, and improve our services. The categories of information we collect include:

• Account Credentials & Identification: When you register on PULSE as a patient, practitioner, or administrator, we collect your full name, email address, selected role, and authentication credentials (hashed password verification data or Google OAuth basic identity tokens).
• Practitioner Profile & Credentials: For healthcare providers, we collect professional information including practice name, clinical specialties, consultation services, office addresses, telephone numbers, bios, national provider identifiers (NPI), state professional license numbers, and uploaded verification documents.
• Appointment & Scheduling Details: When patients request or schedule appointments, we collect the participating patient and practitioner identities, requested appointment date and time, consultation service type, status history (e.g. pending, confirmed, cancelled), and any voluntary visit notes provided by the patient.
• Uploaded Files & Documents: We collect and store files you choose to upload, including profile photos/avatars, practitioner credential verification documents, and private patient health records (such as lab results, immunization cards, or clinical summaries). All files are stored in a private, access-controlled Cloudflare R2 bucket.
• Payment & Subscription Information: For practitioners who subscribe to paid membership plans, payment processing is conducted directly through our third-party payment processor, Stripe. PULSE stores Stripe customer identifiers, subscription plan tiers, and billing status. We never collect, process, or store full payment card numbers, bank account numbers, or CVVs on our servers. Patients do not make payments through PULSE.
• Usage & Technical Diagnostics: We automatically collect standard internet log data, including your IP address, browser type, device information, operating system, session tokens, referring URLs, and timestamps to maintain security, session integrity, and system performance.

PULSE offers optional Google integrations designed to simplify authentication and appointment management. We treat all Google user data with the highest standards of confidentiality, transparency, and data minimization.

1. Data Accessed and Scopes

When you use Google features on PULSE, we request access only to specific, authorized scopes:

• Google Sign-In: Using OpenID Connect (openid, userinfo.email, userinfo.profile), we access basic identity information (name, verified email address, and profile photo) solely to authenticate your account and avoid manual registration.
• Google Calendar: For verified practitioners who voluntarily choose to connect their calendar, we request the sensitive scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar.events.

2. Purpose of Calendar Access

Google Calendar integration is strictly an optional practitioner feature. When connected, PULSE uses the calendar.events permission for the following specific purposes:

• Creating Confirmed Events:When a practitioner confirms an appointment request in PULSE, our system creates an event in the practitioner’s primary Google Calendar containing the appointment time, requested service, patient name, and any patient visit note.
• Removing Cancelled Events:If an appointment is cancelled or rescheduled by either party, PULSE automatically deletes or updates the corresponding calendar event to keep the practitioner’s personal schedule synchronized.

3. Strict Limitations on Calendar Data

We strictly adhere to data minimization principles:

• No Unrelated Calendar Access: PULSE does not read, inspect, download, or store your personal calendar events, attendee lists, or past calendar entries unrelated to PULSE bookings.
• Explicit User Action:Calendar access is never initiated automatically. A practitioner must explicitly click “Connect Google Calendar” from their booking dashboard and approve permissions on Google’s consent screen.
• No Contact Access: PULSE does not request or access Google Contacts or address books.

4. Token Storage and Security

Google OAuth tokens (access tokens and encrypted offline refresh tokens) are stored in our secure PostgreSQL database behind restricted access controls and network firewalls. Tokens are transmitted strictly over TLS-encrypted connections and accessed only by server-side scheduling workers. If Google returns an authorization error or indicates that access has been revoked, all stored tokens are immediately cleared from our database.

5. Prohibitions on Advertising, Data Sales, and AI Training

We strictly restrict the use of Google user data:

• We do not sell Google user data to data brokers or any third parties under any circumstances.
• We do not use Google user data to serve advertisements, personalized promotions, or targeted marketing.
• We do not use Google user data to train, retrain, or fine-tune machine learning or artificial intelligence models.
• We do not permit human inspection of Google user data, except: (a) with your express written consent for troubleshooting a specific synchronization issue; (b) for security purposes such as investigating fraud or system abuse; or (c) where required by applicable law.

6. How to Disconnect and Delete Google Data

You remain in full control of your Google integration at all times:

• Revoke via Google Account: You can revoke PULSE’s access to your Google Calendar at any time by visiting your Google Account Third-party Connections settings at https://myaccount.google.com/permissions. Revoking access stops all future synchronization immediately.
• Request Stored Token Deletion: You can also disconnect your integration within your PULSE dashboard or email us at [CONTACT_EMAIL] to permanently delete all stored Google tokens and connection identifiers from our database.

We use the information we collect for specific, legitimate business purposes:

• Service Delivery: Operating the practitioner directory, displaying verified professional profiles, and managing appointment requests.
• Credential Verification: Reviewing licenses and NPI entries to ensure practitioners meet quality and regulatory standards before their profiles go live.
• Transactional Notifications: Sending essential service emails (such as email verification, password reset links, appointment confirmations, status alerts, and cancellation notices) via Resend.
• Practitioner Billing: Managing paid practitioner subscription tiers and issuing automated receipts through Stripe.
• Security & Troubleshooting: Detecting, preventing, and addressing fraud, unauthorized account access, and technical vulnerabilities.
• Legal & Regulatory Compliance: Satisfying legal obligations, responding to verified legal inquiries, and enforcing our platform terms.

PULSE provides patients with features to store personal health documents and share relevant details when booking appointments:

• Private Health Record Storage: Patients can upload lab reports, diagnostic imaging, immunization records, or clinical documents into their private patient portal (/patient/records). These files are stored in a private Cloudflare R2 bucket. Uploading a document does not automatically publish it or grant practitioners access. Only the authenticated patient can download and access their records.
• Appointment Consultation Notes: When submitting an appointment request, patients may voluntarily provide notes describing their symptoms or visit reasons. This text is transmitted securely to the requested practitioner so they can assess consultation suitability.
• Non-Emergency Platform Notice: PULSE is an administrative directory and scheduling directory, not an emergency service or clinical medical provider. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 or your local emergency response immediately. Do not rely on PULSE appointment requests or messages for urgent clinical care.
• HIPAA Disclaimer: Unless an explicit Business Associate Agreement (BAA) has been executed with a covered healthcare entity, PULSE does not operate as a HIPAA-covered entity or certified business associate. Practitioners are independently responsible for their own HIPAA and regulatory compliance when managing patient care outside of the PULSE directory.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We share information only with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating PULSE, subject to strict contractual confidentiality and security commitments:

• Cloud Infrastructure & Database: PostgreSQL database hosting hosted via Coolify and Neon, providing encrypted database storage and automated backups.
• Object File Storage: Cloudflare R2, used to store practitioner verification documents, profile photos, and private patient health records.
• Payment Processing: Stripe, Inc., used exclusively to process practitioner subscriptions. Stripe handles credit card credentials directly under Level 1 PCI-DSS compliance.
• Transactional Email Delivery: Resend, used to transmit account verification, booking confirmations, cancellation alerts, and administrative notifications.
• Google APIs: Google LLC, utilized for optional Google Sign-In and Google Calendar appointment event synchronization.
• Mapping & Location Services: OpenStreetMap and Leaflet with U.S. Census ZIP centroids for location proximity searches. PULSE does not share user locations with commercial geocoding APIs.
• Legal Disclosures: We may disclose information if required to do so by law, court order, regulatory mandate, or to protect the safety, property, and rights of our users or the public.

We retain your personal data only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy:

• Active Account Records: Account profile information, appointments, and credentials are retained for the duration of your active account.
• Temporary & Unclaimed Uploads: Files uploaded during onboarding that remain unconfirmed or unclaimed are automatically deleted after 24 hours by scheduled storage cleanup tasks.
• Subscription & Transaction Logs: Billing transaction records processed through Stripe are retained in accordance with financial, tax, and accounting statutory requirements (typically 7 years).
• Account Deletion: You can request complete deletion of your account and associated personal data at any time through your account settings or by submitting a written request to [CONTACT_EMAIL]. Upon verification of your identity, we will permanently delete or anonymize your personal records within 30 days, except where retention is required by applicable law.

We implement technical and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorized access, alteration, and disclosure:

• All communication is encrypted in transit using industry-standard Transport Layer Security (TLS 1.3 / HTTPS).
• Database infrastructure is protected by strict firewall rules, environment-variable credential isolation, and role-based access control.
• Passwords are securely hashed using modern cryptographic algorithms before storage; plain-text passwords are never stored.
• File uploads are validated for file type, scanned, and stored in access-restricted private object buckets with randomized keys.

While we maintain rigorous security standards, no electronic transmission or storage system can be guaranteed 100% secure. We encourage users to maintain unique passwords and notify us immediately if they suspect unauthorized access.

Depending on your location and applicable privacy laws (such as GDPR, CCPA, or state privacy statutes), you have specific rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: The right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correction: The right to update or correct inaccurate or incomplete profile data.
• Deletion: The right to request the erasure of your personal data and uploaded records.
• Withdraw Consent: The right to withdraw consent at any time, including disconnecting third-party services like Google Calendar.
• Cookie Choices: The ability to control or reject non-essential cookies through your browser preferences.

To exercise any of these rights, email our team at [CONTACT_EMAIL]. We do not discriminate against users for exercising their statutory privacy rights.

PULSE is not directed to individuals under the age of 13 (or under 18 for independent account management without legal guardian participation). We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information without parental consent, please contact us at [CONTACT_EMAIL], and we will promptly delete the data.

PULSE is hosted and operated in the United States. If you access our platform from outside the United States, your personal information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers and third-party processors are located. By using our platform, you acknowledge and consent to this transfer under applicable data protection laws.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, technological advancements, or regulatory requirements. When updates are published, we will revise the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. If material changes are made that impact how your personal information or Google user data is handled, we will provide prominent notice through our website or via email prior to the changes taking effect.

Effective Date: [EFFECTIVE_DATE]

For questions, privacy inquiries, data deletion requests, or compliance inquiries, please contact our designated privacy representative:

• Legal Entity: [LEGAL_ENTITY_NAME]
• Contact Email: [CONTACT_EMAIL]
• Website: https://pulsewithcare.com
• Physical Address: [MAILING_ADDRESS if required]