SurgeryPal Privacy Policy

Seattle Children's Hospital (“Seattle Children’s,” or “we,” “our,” or “us”) respects your privacy, and we are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy.

This Privacy Policy (our “Privacy Policy”) describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you use the SurgeryPal mobile Application (“App”) and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.

This App is available for personal use. The terms in this Privacy Policy apply to the types of information collected through the App. This policy does not apply to information collected by:

• Seattle Children’s offline or through any other means outside of or apart from the App, including on any other Apps or websites operated by Seattle Children’s or any third party, or
• any third party.

Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our App. By accessing or using our App, you agree to this Privacy Policy.

The App is designed to include use by children under 13 with the consent and supervision of a parent or legal guardian. We comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and other applicable laws. Seattle Children’s is a nonprofit corporation and is not subject to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

With parental consent, our App may collect information from children under 13 years of age. If we learn we have collected or received Personal Data from a child under 13 without parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we may have collected information from a child under 13 without parental consent, please contact us at [email protected].

The App does not collect personal identifiers such as names or full birth dates. Instead, it collects limited health and behavioral data as described below. 

When using our App, we may collect certain information by which you may be personally identified; that is about you individually but does not personally identify you; and about the equipment you use to access our App (collectively, “Personal Data”).

This includes information that we collect directly from you or through automated collection technologies. Specifically, we may collect health information, such as pain intensity ratings, directly from you when you provide it to us. We use a third party service provider, 2morrow, Inc., to collect certain usage data as you navigate through and interact with our App including connection date and time, device type (i.e., iOS or Android), model, operating system, and operating system version of your mobile device. As you navigate through and interact with our App, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your browsing actions and patterns. These usage data will not be identifiable to a particular individual because the service provider receives only a randomly assigned reference identification number (and not your name).

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Data:

• to present our App and its contents and services to you;
• to understand our audience usage patterns; and
• to improve our App and to develop new Apps, procedures, and commercial products.

Some information we collect constitutes Protected Health Information (“PHI”) under the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) and Washington State law. We will use and disclose PHI only as permitted under all applicable laws.  

We do not share, sell, or otherwise disclose your Personal Data for purposes other than those outlined in this Privacy Policy. However, we may disclose information about our users that has been combined to result in de-identified information.

We may disclose Personal Data that we collect or that you provide as described in this Privacy Policy:

• to a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal Data held by Seattle Children’s about our App users are among the assets transferred;
• to comply with our legal obligations; and
• with your consent.

We may also disclose your Personal Data if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights or safety of our patients. 

With respect to any PHI we may obtain, you have certain rights under HIPAA to access your data, to restrict use and disclosure of it, to request communication methods, to request corrections to your data, to receive an accounting of disclosures and to receive notice of any breach.

If you have any questions about the collection and use of information about you or would like to exercise rights that you may have regarding this information, please contact us at [email protected] or [email protected].

We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Data from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. We use encryption technology for information sent and received by us through the App.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have provided a user name and password or you have chosen a password for the use of our App, you are responsible for keeping the user name and password confidential. Please do not share your user name and password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we work diligently to try and protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Data transmitted to our App. Any transmission of Personal Data is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the App or in your operating system.  

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our research activities, legal requirements, or technical infrastructure. If material changes are made, we will notify users by:

• Posting an updated notice within the App, and/or
• Requiring re-acknowledgment of the revised Policy upon login.

The “Last Updated” date at the end of this Policy reflects the most recent changes. Continued use of the App after an update constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy.

If we introduce new features that involve collecting additional types of personal information—such as email addresses or authentication data—we will provide prior notice and, where required by applicable law, obtain your consent before proceeding.  

All matters relating to the App shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of Washington without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the State of Washington or any other jurisdiction).  

If you have any questions, concerns, complaints or suggestions regarding our Privacy Policy, you may contact us at:

Mailing Address

Seattle Children's Research Institute
Attn: Tonya Palermo, M/S CURE-3
PO Box 5371
Seattle, WA 98145-5005

Email

[email protected] or [email protected]