Privacy Policy
What we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, and what you can ask us to do about it. Nina Ross Hair Therapy, LTD, doing business as Nina Ross Functional Medicine.
What this policy covers
Nina Ross Hair Therapy, LTD, doing business as Nina Ross Functional Medicine, operates this website. This policy explains how we handle information collected here and through our general business, including when you browse, book a consultation, subscribe to something, or write to us.
The health information we hold about you as your clinician is governed by our Notice of Privacy Practices, which we give you at intake and which sets out your rights over your medical record under federal health privacy law. Where the two documents overlap, the Notice of Privacy Practices controls for that information.
We update this policy as our practice changes and as the law requires. The date at the top tells you when it last changed.
Information you give us
Most of what we hold is information you chose to give us, and we ask only for what we need to serve you.
- Contact details: your name, email address, phone number, and mailing address.
- Booking information: the appointment type you selected, your preferred times, and anything you wrote in an intake or booking form.
- Payment information: processed by our payment provider. We receive confirmation of payment and limited card details such as the last four digits, and we do not store full card numbers on our systems.
- Health information you share before becoming a patient: symptoms, history, medications, supplements, and copies of prior laboratory results you send us.
- Communications: emails, text messages, portal messages, and voicemails you send us, along with our replies.
- Anything you submit for publication: a review, a testimonial, or a photograph you send us.
Information collected automatically
Like most websites, ours records certain technical information when you visit. This is used to keep the site working, to keep it secure, and to understand which content people find useful.
- Device and browser information, including type, version, operating system, and screen size.
- Your internet protocol address, which indicates your general geographic area rather than your exact location.
- Pages you viewed, how long you stayed, what you clicked, and the site or search that referred you.
- Video and audio engagement, such as whether a video was played and how much of it was watched.
- Cookies and similar technologies, described further below.
Information we receive from others
Some information reaches us from outside sources in the ordinary course of care and business.
- Laboratories that process your specimens and return results to us.
- Pharmacies and compounding pharmacies involved in filling a prescription.
- Other clinicians, where you have asked us to obtain your records or where you have authorised a release.
- Our scheduling, payment, email, and analytics providers, which report activity back to us.
- Advertising and social platforms, which may report that a campaign led to a booking without telling us who you are individually.
Why we use your information
We use information to provide care and to run the practice, and for no purpose you would find surprising.
- To evaluate your situation, provide care, and manage your program.
- To schedule, confirm, and remind you about appointments.
- To order laboratory testing and to interpret and discuss your results with you.
- To take payment, keep financial records, and meet tax and accounting obligations.
- To answer your questions and provide support.
- To send you information about our services where you have asked to hear from us.
- To improve this website, our content, and our services.
- To keep our systems secure, prevent fraud, and enforce our terms.
- To meet legal, regulatory, and professional obligations, including record retention.
Health information
Health information receives the most care of anything we hold. Access is limited to the people who need it to do their work, and we do not sell it. We do not use your health information for advertising, and we do not disclose it to advertising platforms.
Where you share health details before becoming a patient, through a booking form or an email, we use them to determine whether we can help and to prepare for your consultation. If you do not become a patient, we retain what you sent us only as long as we need it for our records and legal obligations.
Once you are a patient, your medical record is governed by our Notice of Privacy Practices, which describes your rights to see it, request a copy, ask for a correction, and request restrictions on how it is shared.
Email, text messages, and marketing
We send two kinds of message. Transactional messages relate to your care and your account, such as appointment confirmations, reminders, results notifications, and billing. You cannot unsubscribe from those while you are a patient, because they are part of receiving care.
Marketing messages tell you about our services and content, and you receive them only where you have asked to. Every one has an unsubscribe link, and you can also reply to ask us to stop.
Where you have agreed to text messages, message and data rates may apply, frequency varies, and you can stop them by replying STOP. Please do not send urgent clinical information by text or email, since neither is monitored around the clock and neither is a secure channel.
How long we keep it
We keep information for as long as we need it for the purpose it was collected, and then for as long as the law requires us to.
Medical records are retained for the period required by Georgia law and professional standards, which is longer than most other categories. Financial and tax records are kept for the period required by tax law. Website analytics are kept in aggregate. Marketing contact details are removed shortly after you unsubscribe.
When we no longer need information, we delete it or render it anonymous.
How we protect it
We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of what we hold. That includes encrypted connections, access limited to staff who need it, agreements with the vendors who handle information for us, and staff training.
No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please help by using a strong, unique password for any account you hold with us and by telling us immediately if you think it has been compromised.
If a breach occurs that affects your information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.
Your choices and your rights
You have meaningful control over your information, and you can exercise these rights by writing to us.
- Ask what we hold about you and request a copy.
- Ask us to correct something that is wrong or incomplete.
- Ask us to delete information, subject to the records we are legally required to keep.
- Withdraw consent you previously gave, including for marketing.
- Ask us to restrict certain uses or disclosures of your health information, as described in our Notice of Privacy Practices.
- Ask us not to sell or share your personal information. We do not do either, so this request costs you nothing.
State privacy rights
Some states give residents specific rights over personal information. If you live in one of them, those rights apply to you regardless of where we are based, and you can exercise them by writing to us.
We will verify your identity before acting on a request, because we should not hand your information to someone who is not you. We will not treat you differently for exercising a right, and where a request concerns information in your medical record we may handle it under health privacy law instead, which generally gives you stronger protection.
You may use an authorised agent to make a request on your behalf, and we will ask for proof of that authority.
If you are outside the United States
We are based in the United States and our systems are located here. If you contact us or use this website from another country, the information you send will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where privacy laws differ from those where you live.
By using this site or contacting us from outside the United States, you understand that transfer takes place. Where local law gives you additional rights, write to us and we will honour them as far as we are able.
Children
This website is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13 through this site.
Where we treat a minor as a patient, we do so with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian, and that information is handled as part of the medical record under our Notice of Privacy Practices.
If you believe a child has given us information through this website, write to us and we will remove it.
Changes to this policy
When we change this policy we update the date at the top. Where a change materially affects how we use information you have already given us, we will tell you directly, by email or through a notice on this site, before it takes effect.
Earlier versions are available on request.
Nina Ross Hair Therapy, LTD
Write to us with Privacy in the subject line and tell us what you would like us to do. We will confirm we received your request and respond within the time the law allows.