Privacy policy · Carelinq

What this policy covers

This policy covers carelinq.com, the Carelinq Dental apps for Windows, Mac, iPad and Android tablets, the Carelinq servers that host practice data, and our support channels. “Carelinq”, “we” and “us” mean Carelinq. “Practice” means a dental practice that uses Carelinq Dental, and “patients” means that practice’s patients.

Information we collect

When you visit carelinq.com

The website doesn’t use cookies or sell visitor data, and it stores nothing on your device. Like most websites, our hosting provider records basic request logs (such as IP address, browser type and the pages requested) to keep the site running and secure.

When you sign up for updates

If you sign up to stay updated, we keep your name, your email address, whether you ticked the box for news about other Carelinq products and services, the consent wording you were shown, and when you signed up. We use it to email you about Carelinq Dental, including product release updates, and, if you ticked the box, about other Carelinq products and services. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email we send, or by writing to support@carelinq.com, and we’ll delete your details on request.

When you contact us

If you email, text or chat with us, we keep your name, contact details and what you tell us so we can help you and follow up.

When a practice uses Carelinq Dental

We collect account details for the practice and its staff (names, roles, work email, login records), billing details for the practice’s subscription, and technical information from the apps (version, device type, error reports) so we can support and improve them. The practice’s clinical and financial records, including patient information, are covered in the next section.

Patient information in Carelinq Dental

A practice’s patient records, images, appointments, claims and ledgers belong to the practice. Under HIPAA, the practice is the covered entity and Carelinq acts as its business associate. We handle protected health information only to provide Carelinq Dental to the practice, as our business associate agreement with the practice allows, and as the law requires.

We don’t sell patient information, use it for advertising, or use it to build products for anyone other than the practice. Patients who have questions about their records, or want to see or correct them, should contact their dental practice, which controls those records. We’ll help the practice respond.

The Carelinq Assistant

The Carelinq Assistant answers staff questions from the practice’s own data. It is designed to keep that data private:

Conversations are encrypted at rest and deleted automatically after the retention period the practice sets.
Questions, answers and practice data are never used to train AI models, ours or anyone else’s.
The assistant runs on a model hosted on hardware the practice controls or on models hosted by Carelinq. Questions and practice data aren’t sent to third-party AI providers.
It reads data through a read-only connection that can’t see passwords, access keys or Social Security numbers, and every query it runs is recorded in the practice’s security log.
Practices can turn the assistant off at any time.

How we use information

To provide, maintain and secure Carelinq Dental and carelinq.com.
To answer support requests and carry out data conversions the practice asks for.
To bill the practice for its subscription and services.
To tell practices about changes, updates and security notices.
To send product release updates, and marketing if you opted in, to people who signed up for them.
To comply with law and protect the rights and safety of practices, patients and Carelinq.

We use only de-identified, aggregated information to understand how the product is used, and never patient information.

When we share information

We don’t sell personal information. We share it only:

With service providers who help us run Carelinq, such as hosting, email and payment processing, under contracts that limit their use of the information and, where they handle patient information, under business associate agreements.
With other parties the practice directs, such as insurance clearinghouses, labs or other offices it sends records to.
When the law requires it, such as in response to a valid court order.
As part of a merger or acquisition, under the same protections described here.

Security

We protect information with encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access for staff, audit logs, and regular backups. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects a practice’s patient information, we’ll notify the practice as our business associate agreement and HIPAA require.

How long we keep information

We keep practice data for as long as the practice uses Carelinq Dental, and then return or delete it as our agreement with the practice provides. Support records are kept for as long as we need them to help you. Request logs are kept for a short period for security.

Your choices and rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask what personal information we hold about you, to correct it, to delete it, or to object to how we use it. Email legal@carelinq.com and we’ll respond within the time the law allows. For patient records, please contact your dental practice first.

Children

carelinq.com isn’t directed at children, and we don’t knowingly collect information from children through it. Practices may keep records about child patients in Carelinq Dental, and those records are protected as described above.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we’ll tell practices before it takes effect.

Contact us

Questions about privacy or this policy: legal@carelinq.com. Help with the product: support@carelinq.com.