Certific’s doctor-patient communication platform | Privacy Policy
Effective from 09/25/2024.
1. Important information about who we are
We are Certific OÜ ('Certific', 'we', 'us') with a registered address at Volta 1, Tallinn, 10411, Estonia. We act as a Business Associate as defined under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This Privacy Policy outlines how we handle personal data, including Protected Health Information (PHI), and ensure compliance with privacy regulations.
We provide a doctor-patient communication environment service at https://health.certific.co/ (“Platform” or “Service”). In order to make personal data related principles understandable to all parties when using the Platform, we have described below the privacy policy of the service (“Privacy Policy”). This Privacy Policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data when you visit our website (regardless of where you visit it from) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
To better understand our Services, please read our terms and conditions of the Services (“Terms and Conditions”) in advance. The Platform can only be used by accepting the Terms and Conditions.
We keep our privacy policy under regular review. This version was last updated on 24 September 2024. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
2. Concepts
a. User(s): Healthcare Provider employees, their patients and other persons using the platform.
b. Certific: Platform service provider.
c. Healthcare Provider: Healthcare Service Provider to the patient via the platform.
d. Employee of a Healthcare Provider: an employee of a Healthcare Provider who uses the platform to communicate with patients on behalf of the Healthcare Provider and whose personal data may be processed through the platform in a limited amount.
e. Patients: patients who use the platform to communicate with a Healthcare Provider, and whose personal data (including health-related data) is processed through the Platform.
2. Who is responsible for your personal data
a. For the purposes of the GDPR and HIPAA, the Healthcare Provider is the data controller with regard to personal data described in this Privacy Policy relating to a patient or an employee of the Health Service Provider. Certific, as a Business Associate, processes personal data on behalf of the Healthcare Provider, primarily for the purpose of providing healthcare services and facilitating communication between providers and patients.
b. “Data controllers” are the people who or organisations which determine the purposes for which, and the manner in which, any personal data is processed, who/which make independent decisions in relation to the personal data and/or who/which otherwise control that personal data.
c. The health care service provider processes the personal data of the patient (and its own employee) primarily for the purpose of providing health care services to the patient and is responsible for the provision of health care services and the processing of personal data accompanying the provision of health care services.
d. As a platform service provider, Certific is a processor of personal data for a Healthcare Provider;
e. As the controller of personal data, Certific may use cookies on the platform, for example to provide targeted advertising, provided that the user of the platform has agreed to the storage of cookies and the use of cookies is in accordance with Certific's cookie policy..
3. The data we collect about you.
a. “Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. Personal data can be factual (for example, a name, address or date of birth) or it can be an opinion about that person, their actions and/or behavior.
b. Certific may process the following personal data on behalf of the Healthcare Provider to which the healthcare provider authorizes Certific to process by signing the service contract and to the extent that it is necessary to provide the platform service to the Healthcare Provider:
• the patient's name, contact details, personal identification number or other data enabling identification of the patient;
• patient's health data (information disclosed by the patient to the Healthcare Provider during the use of the platform, including answers to questionnaires, photos, files) (“Patient Data”);
• personal data of the employee of the Healthcare Provider (name, contact details and personal identification number) and data entered into the platform by the Healthcare Provider (e.g., diagnosis) (“Service Provider Data”).
c. Certific may perform the following data processing operations on behalf of the Healthcare Provider with the personal data specified in the above point for which the healthcare service provider authorizes Certific by signing the service contract:
• data management and mediation to enable communication between Healthcare Provider and patient;
• data analysis (including for conducting feedback questionnaires and receiving feedback on the services of the healthcare provider and on the use of the platform);
• analyzing data (including health data) for the further development of the Certific platform in order to provide better service to the health care provider in the future and new opportunities to use the platform;
• other arrangements of the Healthcare Provider.
4. How do we collect your personal data?
We collect personal data from the Health Care Provider and the Patient when employees of the Health Care Provider and patients are using the platform.
5. What are the bases and purposes for the processing of personal data based on which we as an authorised processor proceed?
a. Certific and the healthcare services provider have entered into a contract which ensures the legality and security of personal data processing.
b. We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
i. Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
6. Purposes for which we use your personal data
We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.
Purpose/Activity Type of data
Lawful basis for processing
To register the Service Provider on the Platform Service Provider Data a. Performance of our contract with the Healthcare Provider
To communicate with Healthcare Providers and Patients with regard to queries about the Platform Service Provider Data
Patient Data a. Necessary for our legitimate interests
b. Performance of our contract with Healthcare Providers
To manage our relationship with the Healthcare Provider which will include:
a. Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy
b. Asking you to leave a review or take a survey Service Provider Data a. Performance of a contract with our Healthcare Provider
b. Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
c. Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how Service Providers use our services)
7. How do we store personal data and when do we transfer it?
a. When storing personal data, as a processor, we proceed from the validity of the contract concluded with the responsible processor and store personal data from the moment we conclude a contract with the Healthcare Provider and until the moment when we no longer process personal data on behalf of the Healthcare Provider.
b. Certific may transfer personal data to third parties only as necessary to provide the Platform service. Any third-party service providers engaged by Certific will be bound by data protection agreements that ensure compliance with HIPAA, HITECH, and GDPR.
c. We do not transfer personal data outside the European Economic Area and the US.
8. Security
a. We take appropriate security measures against unlawful or unauthorised processing of personal data, and against the accidental loss of, or damage to, personal data. We limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents and other third parties who are required to have access to your personal data and where they have agreed that they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We regularly upgrade our systems in terms of information security and consistently train our employees on data protection topics.
b. We have put in place procedures and technologies to maintain the security of all personal data from the point of collection to the point of destruction. We have procedures in place to deal with actual and suspected data breaches which include an obligation on us to notify the supervisory authority and/or you, the data subject, where legally required to do so. In the event of a data breach involving PHI, Certific will notify the Covered Entity within five business days, in accordance with HIPAA and GDPR requirements. We will work with the Covered Entity to ensure that appropriate notifications are made to individuals and regulatory authorities as required.
9. Rights related to personal data
a. The users of the platform are guaranteed all the rights prescribed by law in the processing of personal data, including the following:
• Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.Certific acknowledges the rights of individuals to access, correct, or delete their personal data in line with HIPAA and GDPR. Certific will assist Covered Entities in responding to requests, as per the terms of the Business Associate Agreement.
• Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
• Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
• Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
• Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:
• If you want us to establish the data's accuracy.
• Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
• Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
• Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
b. In order to exercise your rights, you must contact the controller of personal data, i.e., the Healthcare Provider.
10. Other provisions
a. Certific has appointed a data protection specialist to deal with questions related to personal data, who can be contacted at dpo@certific.co .
11. Termination and Data Destruction
a. Upon termination of our agreement with a Covered Entity, Certific will return or destroy all PHI and personal data in accordance with the terms of the BAA. If data destruction is not feasible, Certific will notify the Covered Entity and extend protections for as long as the data is retained, limiting further use to legally required purposes.