Privacy Policy

Privacy at a glance

Information we collect

a. Information you provide to us

• Account information (optional). If you choose to create an account, we collect the information you provide during sign-up, such as your email address, a display name, and a password, or your basic profile information if you sign in with a third-party account (such as Apple or Google), where offered.
• Saved facilities and preferences. If you save your regular urgent care centers or emergency rooms, set filters, or configure alerts (for example, a notification when a saved facility’s wait drops below 20 minutes), we store those preferences.
• Wait-time reports. When you report a wait, we collect the facility you are reporting on, the wait duration you experienced, and the date and time of your report. Reports may be associated with your account (if you have one) or with a device or installation identifier for quality and anti-abuse purposes.
• Communications. If you contact us (for example, by email), we collect your contact details and the contents of your message so we can respond.

b. Information collected automatically

• Location information. With your permission, we collect your device’s location while you are using the App or web app in order to show urgent care centers and emergency rooms near you, sort them by estimated time to be seen, and calculate drive distance. See Section 7 for details and controls.
• Device and usage information. We automatically collect information about the device and software you use to access the Service, such as device model, operating system and version, app version, language and time zone, IP address, unique installation or device identifiers, push notification tokens, and how you interact with the Service (for example, screens viewed, features used, searches performed, and the dates and times of access).
• Diagnostics. We collect crash logs and performance data (for example, error reports, load times) to keep the Service stable and reliable.
• Cookies and similar technologies. Our websites use cookies and similar technologies as described in Section 9.

c. Information from other sources

• Facility information. We obtain information about healthcare facilities — such as names, addresses, phone numbers, hours, and services offered (for example, x-ray availability) — from the facilities themselves, third-party data providers, and publicly available sources. This is information about facilities, not about you.

Summary of the personal information we collect

Information we do not collect

We designed the Service so that it does not need to know anything about your health. We do not ask for or knowingly collect:

• symptoms, medical conditions, diagnoses, or treatment information;
• medical records or clinical history;
• health insurance details;
• the reason you are seeking care, or who the care is for.

The Patient Wait helps you find and compare care; it is not a medical service and does not provide diagnosis or treatment. We are not a healthcare provider, and we are not a “covered entity” or “business associate” under the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Information you submit through the Service is therefore not protected health information under HIPAA. At the same time, we recognize that using an app about urgent care and emergency rooms is inherently sensitive, and we treat all information collected through the Service with corresponding care, as described in Sections 5, 13, and 14.

How we use information

We use the information described above to:

• provide and operate the Service, including showing nearby facilities, live crowd-sourced wait estimates, hours, services, and drive distances;
• generate, display, and improve aggregated wait-time estimates (see Section 5);
• enable one-tap calling and navigation by passing a facility’s phone number or address to your device’s dialer or maps application;
• create and maintain your optional account, and sync your saved facilities and preferences;
• send push notifications you have requested, such as alerts when a saved facility’s wait drops;
• respond to your questions and support requests;
• monitor, analyze, and improve the Service, develop new features, and fix bugs;
• protect the security and integrity of the Service, including detecting and preventing fraudulent or manipulated wait-time reports, spam, and abuse;
• comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms & Conditions.

We do not use your personal information for third-party targeted advertising, and we do not sell it.

Crowd-sourced wait times, aggregation, and de-identification

Wait-time estimates shown in the Service are generated by combining wait reports from many users, sometimes together with third-party or publicly available information. When your report is used:

• it is combined and aggregated with other reports for the same facility;
• the estimate shown to other users includes a “last updated” stamp but never your name, email, or other identity details;
• over time, we de-identify individual reports and retain them only in aggregated or de-identified form, which we may use for any lawful purpose, including improving our estimation models and publishing statistics about wait times.

We maintain de-identified data in a form that is not reasonably capable of being associated with you, and we do not attempt to re-identify it.

How we share information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing. We share information only in the following circumstances:

• Service providers. We share information with vendors that perform services on our behalf, such as cloud hosting and databases, analytics and crash reporting, push notification delivery, mapping and geolocation services, and customer support tooling (for example, providers such as Google Firebase for analytics and crash reporting, and Google Maps Platform for maps and facility data). These providers are permitted to use the information only to provide services to us.
• Aggregated and de-identified information. We display aggregated wait estimates publicly within the Service and may share aggregated or de-identified information (which cannot reasonably identify you) with facilities, researchers, partners, or the public — for example, average wait times by region.
• Legal reasons. We may disclose information if we believe it is reasonably necessary to comply with a law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request; to enforce our Terms; or to protect the rights, property, safety, or security of The Patient Wait, our users, or the public.
• Business transfers. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of some or all of our assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this Policy’s commitments.
• With your direction or consent. We share information for any other purpose you direct or consent to — for example, when you tap to call a facility or open directions, the relevant phone number or address is passed to your device’s dialer or maps app at your request.

Location information and your controls

Location is central to what the Service does: it lets us show the urgent care centers and emergency rooms around you and rank them by who is likely to see you soonest.

• Permission-based. The App requests location permission through your device’s standard iOS or Android permission prompt. We collect location only if you grant permission.
• In use only. Location is used while the App or web app is open and in use. The App does not track or record your location in the background, and we do not build a history of your movements.
• Your controls. You can change or revoke location permission at any time in your device settings (on iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services; on Android: Settings → Location, or the App’s permission settings). The website and web app request location through your browser, which you can likewise allow or block.
• Without location. If you decline location access, you can still use the Service by searching for a city, address, or ZIP code, though distance-based features will be limited.

Please note that your presence at, or interest in, a particular healthcare facility can be sensitive. We use facility-level information (such as your saved facilities and wait reports) only as described in this Policy, and we apply the additional protections described in Sections 13 and 14 where required by law.

Push notifications

With your permission, we send push notifications — for example, an alert when a saved facility’s estimated wait drops below your chosen threshold. To deliver these, we store a push token issued by your device platform. You can turn notifications off at any time in the App’s settings or your device’s notification settings; doing so does not affect your other use of the Service.

Cookies and website analytics

Our websites use cookies and similar technologies to:

• operate the site (essential cookies, such as those that remember your session or preferences); and
• understand usage (analytics cookies that help us learn which pages are visited and how the site performs).

You can control cookies through your browser settings, including blocking or deleting them; essential cookies are required for parts of the site to function. Where required by law, we request your consent before setting non-essential cookies. We do not use cookies for third-party advertising.

Data retention

We keep personal information only as long as needed for the purposes described in this Policy:

• Account information is retained until you delete your account. After deletion, we remove or de-identify your account data from active systems within 30 days, and residual copies are purged from backups within 90 days.
• Wait-time reports are retained in identifiable form for up to 12 months for quality, anti-fraud, and model-improvement purposes, after which they are de-identified or aggregated.
• Server logs and diagnostics are typically retained for up to 90 days.
• Support communications are retained as long as needed to resolve your request and for a reasonable period afterward for record-keeping.

We may retain information longer where required for legal, security, or dispute-resolution purposes. Aggregated or de-identified information may be retained indefinitely.

Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access / know — request a copy of the personal information we hold about you and information about how we use and share it.
• Correction — ask us to correct inaccurate personal information.
• Deletion — ask us to delete your personal information (see Section 12).
• Portability — receive certain information in a portable, machine-readable format.
• Withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent (for example, location access or notifications), withdraw it at any time through your device settings or the App, without affecting processing that occurred before withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, use the in-app controls where available or email us at info@thepatientwait.com with the words “Privacy Request” in the subject line. We may need to verify your identity — for example, by confirming control of the email address associated with your account — before acting on a request. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law. We will never discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.

Deleting your account and your data

You can delete your account and associated personal information at any time:

• In the App: go to Settings → Account → Delete Account and confirm. This permanently deletes your account, saved facilities, preferences, and the link between your past wait reports and your identity.
• On the web: visit https://www.thepatientwait.com/delete-account and follow the instructions.
• By email: send a request to info@thepatientwait.com from the email address associated with your account.

If you use the Service without an account, most information we hold is not linked to your name. You can uninstall the App at any time, and you may email us to request deletion of information associated with your device or installation identifier.

Please note: aggregated wait-time estimates that were previously generated using your (de-identified) reports are not linked to you and will continue to exist, and we may retain limited information where required by law or for legitimate security purposes (for example, records of fraudulent activity).

United States state privacy rights

Residents of certain U.S. states — including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Virginia, and others with comprehensive privacy laws — have specific rights, which we honor to the extent those laws apply to us. In addition to the rights in Section 11, these may include the right to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information and of targeted advertising, the right to limit use of sensitive personal information, and the right to appeal a decision we make about your request.

• No sale or sharing. We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We have not done so in the preceding 12 months.
• Categories collected. As described in Section 2, we collect: identifiers (such as email address, device identifiers, IP address); precise geolocation (with your permission); internet or other electronic network activity information (usage and diagnostics); and information you provide (such as wait reports and saved facilities). We collect these directly from you and from your device, use them for the purposes in Section 4, and disclose them to the categories of recipients in Section 6.
• Sensitive personal information. Precise geolocation is considered sensitive personal information in some states. We use it only to provide the Service features you request and for the limited purposes permitted by law, not to infer characteristics about you.
• Opt-out preference signals. Because we do not sell or share personal information, opt-out preference signals such as Global Privacy Control do not change how we handle your data; we treat such signals as consistent with our existing practices.
• Authorized agents. Where permitted by law, an authorized agent may submit a request on your behalf; we may require proof of authorization and verification of your identity.
• Appeals. If we decline a request, you may appeal by replying to our decision email with “Appeal” in the subject line, and we will have a different reviewer consider it. If your appeal is denied, you may contact your state attorney general.

Consumer health data

Some states — such as Washington (My Health My Data Act) and Nevada — regulate “consumer health data,” which is defined broadly and can include information that identifies your attempt to search for or obtain healthcare services, such as your interest in, presence at, or wait report about an urgent care center or emergency room.

To the extent information we collect is considered consumer health data under these laws:

• we collect and use it only to provide the Service features you request and as otherwise described in this Policy, and where the law requires consent, we obtain it;
• we do not sell consumer health data, and we do not use it for advertising;
• we share it only with the service providers and under the circumstances described in Section 6;
• you may exercise the rights described in Section 11 — including access, deletion, and withdrawal of consent — by contacting info@thepatientwait.com, and you may appeal a refusal as described in Section 13.

Children’s privacy

The Service is intended for adults and, consistent with our Terms & Conditions, users under 18 may use it only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian. The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us personal information, please contact us at info@thepatientwait.com and we will delete it promptly.

Data security

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect your information, including encryption of data in transit, access controls, and monitoring. However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please protect your account credentials and notify us promptly at info@thepatientwait.com if you suspect unauthorized access to your account.

International users and data transfers

The Service is operated from the United States, and the information we collect is processed and stored in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction. If you use the Service from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States.

If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we process your personal data on the following legal bases: performance of a contract (providing the Service you request), your consent (for example, device location and push notifications), our legitimate interests (such as securing and improving the Service), and compliance with legal obligations. You have the rights described in Section 11, as well as the rights to object to or restrict certain processing and to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

Third-party services and links

The Service integrates with and links to third-party services — including your device’s maps and dialer applications, app stores, analytics providers, and the websites and phone systems of healthcare facilities. When you leave the Service or interact with a third party (for example, by opening directions or calling a facility), that third party’s own privacy policy governs the information it receives. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you use.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date at the top of this page, and if the changes are material, we will provide additional notice — such as an in-app notice or an email to account holders — before they take effect. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.

Contact us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal information, contact us at: