Privacy Policy
Benefits Advocate Corp. (“Advocate,” “we,” “our,” and/or “us”) values the privacy of individuals who use our website, mobile application, and related services (collectively, our “Services”). This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) explains how we collect, use, and disclose information from users of our Services (“Users”). By using our Services, you agree to the collection, use, disclosure, and procedures this Privacy Policy describes. Beyond the Privacy Policy, your use of our Services is also subject to our Terms of Service (https://www.joinadvocate.com/terms-of-service).
Information We Collect
We may collect a variety of information from or about you or your devices from various sources, as described below.
A. Information You Provide to Us.
Health History. When you speak to a provider, they will ask about social determinants of health, which includes your current conditions and concerns.
Registration Information. When you register to use our Services, we ask you for your name, email address, physical address, phone number, employment information, and social security number. We also ask you for your demographic information, such as postal code, age, and gender.
Benefits Intake. When you communicate with us to find available benefits, we ask you for information to help us identify and apply for available benefits on your behalf, such as when you last visited a doctor and your daily activities.
Eligibility Form. When you complete our questionnaire to determine your eligibility for benefits, we ask you questions such as whether you previously applied for benefits, your current employment status, the number of years you worked and paid taxes, whether you are represented by a lawyer, and whether you have previously received benefits payments.
Government Forms and Agreements. In order to prepare and submit your application, we ask you to complete various government forms, such as appointing us as your representative, fee agreement, and Social Security Administration information release. We receive the information that you provide in those forms.
Communications. If you contact us directly, we may receive additional information about you. For example, when you contact our Customer Support Team, we will receive your name, email address, phone number, the contents of your message, and other information you choose to provide.
B. Information We Receive from Other Sources.
Medical Records. With your authorization, we receive your electronic medical records from your clinical care provider for the purposes of coordinating your care and, if you consent, preparing and submitting your application to the government.
Other third parties. We may receive additional information about you, such as demographic, work, and financial data, from third parties and combine it with other information we have about you.
C. Information We Collect When You Use Our Services.
Device Information. We receive information about the device and software you use to access our Services, including IP address, web browser type, domain names, referring website addresses, operating system version, phone carrier and manufacturer, application installations, device identifiers, mobile advertising identifiers, and push notification tokens.
Usage Information. To help us understand how you use our Services and to help us improve them, we automatically receive information about your interactions with our Services, like the pages or other content you view, the searches you conduct, and the dates and times of your visits.
Information from Cookies and Tracking Technologies. We and our third-party partners collect information using cookies, pixel tags, or tracking technologies. Our third-party partners, such as analytics and advertising partners, may use these technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across different services.
How We Use the Information We Collect
We may use the information we collect:
- To provide, maintain, improve, and enhance our Services, including developing personalized treatment plans, providing proactive health management, compiling information for, filling out, and submitting benefits applications on your behalf;
- To coordinate with your healthcare providers and specialists to ensure continuity of care;
- To provide you with reminders about your appointments or recommended treatment plans;
- To understand and analyze how you use our Services and develop new products, services, features, and functionality;
- To communicate with you, provide you with updates and other information relating to our Services, provide information that you request, respond to questions, and otherwise provide customer support;
- For marketing and advertising purposes, such as developing and providing promotional and advertising materials that may be relevant, valuable or otherwise of interest to you;
- To facilitate transactions and payments;
- To find and prevent fraud and abuse, and respond to trust and safety issues that may arise;
- For compliance purposes, including enforcing our TOS or other legal rights, or as may be required by applicable laws and regulations or requested by any judicial process or governmental agency; and
- For other purposes for which we provide specific notice at the time the information is collected.
How We Share the Information We Collect
SMS Opt-In Protection. Mobile phone numbers and information collected through SMS opt-in will not be sold, rented, or shared with third parties for marketing purposes. Such information will only be used to deliver the SMS services you've opted into and will only be shared with service providers necessary to deliver those messages.
Affiliates. We may share any information we receive to our current or future affiliates for any of the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, except for mobile phone numbers collected through SMS opt-in, which will not be shared with affiliates for marketing purposes.
Telehealth Provider. With your authorization, we disclose your information to your telehealth provider in order to make an appointment with them on your behalf. We also provide them with your electronic health records so that they can review and summarize your condition and current treatment plan, for purposes of including that information in your benefits application.
Electronic Health Record Providers. With your authorization, we disclose certain information, such as your identifying information and demographics information, in order to receive your electronic health records from them and provide them to your telehealth provider. When your telehealth providers update your electronic health records, we provide the updated records to the electronic health record providers.
Government. We disclose your benefits application information, such as medical records and personal information, to the Government when we submit your benefits applications on your behalf.
Vendors and Service Providers. We may share any information we receive with vendors and service providers retained in connection with the provision of our Services, provided that mobile phone numbers collected through SMS opt-in will only be shared with vendors necessary to deliver SMS services and will not be shared for any other marketing purposes.
Analytics Partners. We use analytics services such as Google Analytics to collect and process certain analytics data. These services may also collect information about your use of other websites, apps, and online resources. You can learn about Google’s practices by going to https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/, and opt-out of them by downloading the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Advertising Partners. We work with third-party advertising partners to show you ads that we think may interest you. Some of our advertising partners are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (https://optout.networkadvertising.org) or the Digital Advertising Alliance (https://optout.aboutads.info). If you do not wish to receive personalized ads, please visit their opt-out pages to learn about how you may opt out of receiving web-based personalized ads from member companies. You can access any settings offered by your mobile operating system to limit ad tracking, or you can install the AppChoices mobile app to learn more about how you may opt out of personalized ads in mobile apps.
As Required By Law and Similar Disclosures. We may access, preserve, and disclose your information if we believe doing so is required or appropriate to: (a) comply with law enforcement requests and legal process, such as a court order or subpoena; (b) respond to your requests; or (c) protect your, our, or others’ rights, property, or safety. For the avoidance of doubt, the disclosure of your information may occur if you post any objectionable content on or through our Services.
Merger, Sale, or Other Asset Transfers. We may transfer your information to service providers, advisors, potential transactional partners, or other third parties in connection with the consideration, negotiation, or completion of a corporate transaction in which we are acquired by or merged with another company or we sell, liquidate, or transfer all or a portion of our assets. The use of your information following any of these events will be governed by the provisions of this Privacy Policy in effect at the time the applicable information was collected.
Consent. We may also disclose your information with your permission.
Your Choices
Third Parties
Our Services may contain links to other websites, products, or services that we do not own or operate. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties. Please be aware that this Privacy Policy does not apply to your activities on these third-party services or any information you disclose to these third parties. We encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing any information to them.
Security
We make reasonable efforts to protect your information by using physical and electronic safeguards designed to improve the security of the information we maintain. However, because no electronic transmission or storage of information can be entirely secure, we can make no guarantees as to the security or privacy of your information.
Children’s Privacy
We do not knowingly collect, maintain, or use personal information from children under 13 years of age, and no part of our Services is directed to children. If you learn that a child has provided us with personal information in violation of this Privacy Policy, then you may alert us at support@ouradvocates.com.
International Visitors
Our Services are hosted in the United States and intended for visitors located within the United States. If you choose to use our Services from the European Union or other regions of the world with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law, then please note that you are transferring your personal information outside of those regions to the United States for storage and processing. Also, we may transfer your data from the U.S. to other countries or regions in connection with storage and processing of data, fulfilling your requests, and operating our Services. By providing any information, including personal information, on or to our Services, you consent to such transfer, storage, and processing.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We will post any adjustments to the Privacy Policy on this page, and the revised version will be effective when it is posted. If we materially change the ways in which we use or disclose personal information previously collected from you through our Services, we will notify you through our Services, by email, or other communication.
Contact Information
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about our processing activities, please email us at [support@ouradvocates.com] or write to us at [169 Madison Ave STE 15513New York, NY 10016].
Last Updated: [8/8/2024]