PRIVACY POLICY

OVERVIEW

This Privacy Policy explains how Aligned Aesthetics, LLC (“Aligned Aesthetics,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, and discloses information when you visit our website at www.alignedaestheticscle.com and any affiliated pages, booking portals, or online services (collectively, the “Site”), contact us, visit our office in Solon, Ohio, or otherwise interact with us.

Please note the important distinction below.

Website information. Information you submit through the Site, such as your name and contact details on a contact form, your newsletter signup, and information collected automatically by cookies and analytics tools, is governed by this Privacy Policy.

Protected health information. Once you become a patient, the information we create and maintain about your health, treatment, and payment for care is “protected health information” (PHI) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and applicable Ohio law. PHI is governed by our Notice of Privacy Practices, not by this Privacy Policy. Where the two documents differ with respect to PHI, the Notice of Privacy Practices controls. A copy is provided to you at your first visit and is available upon request.

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make changes, we will revise the date above and, in some cases, provide additional notice. We encourage you to review this page periodically to stay informed about our practices.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Information Collected Automatically

When you visit the Site, we automatically collect certain information about your device and your browsing activity, including your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, time zone, referring and exit pages, search terms that brought you to us, the pages and services you view, and the date and time of your visit. We refer to this as “Device Information.”

We collect Device Information using the following technologies:

• Cookies are small data files placed on your device, often including a unique identifier. You can learn more about cookies and how to disable them at allaboutcookies.org.
• Log files track actions occurring on the Site and record data including IP address, browser type, internet service provider, referring and exit pages, and date and time stamps.
• Web beacons, tags, and pixels are electronic files used to record how you browse the Site and how you respond to our marketing.

Information You Provide to Us

We collect information you give us directly. This includes information submitted when you complete a contact form, request a consultation, subscribe to our newsletter, sign up for text messages, enter a giveaway or promotion, leave a review, message us on social media, email us, or call our office.

Depending on the interaction, this may include your name, email address, phone number, mailing address, the reason for your inquiry, your treatment interests, and any other information you choose to include in your message. We refer to this as “Provided Information.”

Please do not send detailed medical information, photographs of a medical concern, or health history through website forms, email, social media messages, or text message. Those channels are not secure. If you need to share clinical information, please call our office or use the secure patient portal.

Information Collected at Our Office and Through Booking

When you book an appointment or become a patient, we collect information necessary to schedule, treat, and bill you. This includes contact and demographic details, appointment history, intake forms, health history, medications and allergies, treatment records, clinical photographs, consent forms, and payment records.

Online booking and patient records are supported by a third party practice management platform. That platform processes this information on our behalf under a business associate agreement, as required by HIPAA.

Information From Other Sources

We may receive information about you from other sources and combine it with information we collect. Examples include information from social media platforms when you interact with our accounts or message us, information from advertising and analytics partners, information from a person who refers you to us, and information from third party skincare vendors or financing providers you engage with through links on our Site.

Throughout this policy, “Personal Information” refers collectively to Device Information, Provided Information, and information we receive from other sources.

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use the information we collect to:

• Respond to inquiries, consultation requests, and messages;
• Schedule, confirm, remind you of, and follow up on appointments;
• Provide, evaluate, and document your care, and communicate with you about your treatment plan and aftercare;
• Process payments, memberships, packages, and gift card transactions, and manage recurring billing;
• Administer memberships, promotions, giveaways, loyalty offers, and manufacturer rewards programs;
• Send you marketing and promotional communications by email and text message, consistent with your preferences and applicable law;
• Operate, maintain, secure, and improve the Site;
• Understand how visitors use the Site and measure the performance of our marketing and advertising;
• Detect, investigate, and prevent fraudulent, unauthorized, or unlawful activity;
• Comply with our legal, regulatory, licensing, and recordkeeping obligations; and
• Carry out any other purpose disclosed to you at the time information is collected.

We use protected health information for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations as described in our Notice of Privacy Practices. We do not use protected health information for marketing purposes without your written authorization, and we do not sell protected health information.

HOW WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION

We share information with third parties only as described here.

Service providers and business associates. We share information with vendors that perform services on our behalf, including our practice management and scheduling platform, website host and maintenance provider, payment processors, email and text message providers, analytics providers, and marketing partners. Vendors that handle protected health information do so under a business associate agreement and are limited to the purposes we specify.

Payment and financing. Payment card information is processed by our payment processor and is not stored by us. We offer access to third party patient financing through Cherry and PatientFi. If you apply, you provide your information directly to that company and it is handled under that company’s own privacy policy, not ours.

Skincare vendors. Our Site links to third party skincare portals, including SkinBetter Science and Plated Skin Science. Orders placed through those portals are transactions between you and the vendor, and the information you provide there is governed by the vendor’s privacy policy.

Analytics and advertising partners. We use analytics and advertising technologies, including Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and the Meta advertising pixel, to understand Site traffic and measure campaign performance. These tools may collect Device Information about your visit. You can read about Google’s practices at policies.google.com/privacy and opt out of Google Analytics at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. You can review Meta’s practices at facebook.com/privacy/policy.

Legal and protective disclosures. We may disclose information to comply with applicable law, respond to a subpoena, court order, or lawful request from a government or regulatory authority, enforce our agreements, or protect the rights, property, and safety of Aligned Aesthetics, our patients, or others.

Business transfers. If we are involved in a merger, sale, or transfer of all or part of our practice, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law and any continuing HIPAA obligations.

Aggregated and de-identified information. We may share information that has been aggregated or de-identified so that it cannot reasonably be used to identify you.

Text message consent is never shared. Mobile phone numbers and text messaging opt-in data and consent are not shared with or sold to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

We do not sell your personal information.

PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION AND HIPAA

As a healthcare provider, we are a covered entity under HIPAA. Your protected health information is subject to specific federal and Ohio protections that go beyond this Privacy Policy.

Our Notice of Privacy Practices describes in detail how we may use and disclose your health information, the circumstances requiring your written authorization, and your rights, which include the right to inspect and obtain a copy of your record, request an amendment, request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures, request confidential communications, receive an accounting of certain disclosures, and file a complaint.

To exercise any of these rights, or to request a copy of the Notice of Privacy Practices, contact our office using the information at the end of this policy.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND IMAGES

Clinical photographs taken before, during, and after treatment are part of your medical record and are protected as health information.

We will not use your photographs, video, or likeness in marketing, advertising, social media, our website, or educational materials without your separate written authorization. You may revoke that authorization at any time by notifying us in writing, though revocation does not reach materials already published or distributed.

If you tag us, comment on our posts, or send us content on social media, we may repost or share that content in accordance with our Terms of Service and the platform’s terms.

REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS

If you post a public review of our practice on Google, Facebook, or another platform, that review is public and visible to anyone, including any health details you choose to include. We are limited in how we may respond to public reviews, because acknowledging that a reviewer is a patient can itself disclose protected health information. Please consider carefully before including personal health details in a public post.

TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES AND YOUR CHOICES

Most web browsers accept cookies by default. You can usually set your browser to remove or reject cookies. If you do, some features of the Site may not function properly.

Do Not Track. We do not currently alter our data collection practices in response to a Do Not Track signal from your browser.

Interest-based advertising. You can learn about opting out of interest-based advertising through the Digital Advertising Alliance at optout.aboutads.info and the Network Advertising Initiative at optout.networkadvertising.org. Opting out stops interest-based targeting, not all advertising.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Email. You can opt out of marketing emails using the unsubscribe link in any message, or by contacting us. If you opt out, we may still send non-promotional messages relating to your appointments, treatment, billing, or our ongoing relationship.

Text messages. If you have opted in to marketing texts, you can opt out at any time by replying STOP. Reply HELP for assistance. Opting out of marketing texts does not necessarily stop appointment confirmations and reminders. To adjust those, contact our office directly.

Postal mail and phone. Contact us if you prefer not to receive promotional mail or calls.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

The Site is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect information online from anyone under the age of eighteen (18). We comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Patients under eighteen may receive Services only with the consent and presence of a parent or legal guardian, where clinically appropriate and permitted by Ohio law. Records created in the course of that care are maintained as protected health information.

If you believe a person under eighteen has provided information through the Site, please contact us and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

SECURITY

We take reasonable administrative, technical, and physical measures to protect information from loss, theft, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction, including the safeguards required of us under HIPAA.

No method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, particularly for information you send through unsecured channels such as email, web forms, social media messages, and text messages.

DATA RETENTION

We retain medical records for the period required by Ohio law and applicable federal regulations, and longer where necessary to comply with legal, professional liability, or regulatory obligations.

Marketing and website information is retained for as long as needed for the purposes described in this policy, unless you ask us to delete it and we are not otherwise required to keep it.

YOUR RIGHTS AND CHOICES

Depending on where you live, you may have rights regarding your personal information, including the right to request access to it, request correction of inaccurate information, request deletion, and opt out of certain sharing for targeted advertising. These state law rights generally do not apply to information covered by HIPAA, which is instead governed by the rights described in our Notice of Privacy Practices.

To make a request, contact us using the information below. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any privacy right.

If you are located outside the United States, please be aware that your information will be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.

THIRD PARTY LINKS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The Site includes links to third party websites and embedded social media content, including an Instagram feed. These third parties operate independently of us, may collect information about you, and are governed by their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for their practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any third party site before providing information to it.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. The revised policy will be posted on this page with an updated date. Your continued use of the Site after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of those changes.

CONTACT US

For questions about this Privacy Policy, to exercise a privacy right, or to file a complaint about our privacy practices, contact:

Aligned Aesthetics, LLC Attn: Privacy Officer 6001 Cochran Rd, Suite 404 Solon, OH 44139 Phone: (440) 537-2786 Email: [EMAIL ADDRESS] Website: www.alignedaestheticscle.com

You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

This document is a template prepared for Aligned Aesthetics, LLC and is not legal advice. Because it involves protected health information, HIPAA obligations, and online tracking on a healthcare website, it should be reviewed by an attorney licensed in Ohio before publication, and it should be paired with a compliant HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices.