instatherapyInstatherapy ("Instatherapy", "we", "us") operates www.instatherapy.ca, a website that helps people in British Columbia find healthcare practitioners with real-time appointment availability. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. We handle personal information in line with British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
Instatherapy is a directory, not a medical provider. This policy covers our website and services only. It does not cover any clinic or practitioner you contact through us, or any other website we link to, such as a clinic's own booking page.
1. Information we collect
When you visit the site. To deliver the site, our hosting provider receives your IP address, your browser and device type, and the pages you request. These server logs are used to run and secure the site.
What you search for. Your search choices, such as the type of practitioner, the service, the city and when you want to be seen, are part of the page address, so they reach our servers when you search.
Approximate location, only if you ask. If you choose to sort by Nearest, your browser asks your permission to share your location. If you allow it, we round it to about 1 km and add it to the page address so we can rank clinics by distance. We use it only to order that page of results and do not save it in our database. If you decline, you can keep using the site.
Anonymous usage counts. As you browse, the site counts actions such as a clinic or practitioner appearing in search results, a profile being viewed, or a phone or booking link being clicked. Each count carries a random ID that your browser creates for the current tab and forgets when you close it, the kind of device you use (mobile, tablet or desktop), the website that sent you to us, and the search that led to it. It does not carry your name, email address, IP address or exact location, and we do not link it to you. These counts are always on and are not affected by your cookie choice.
Analytics, only if you accept. If you accept analytics cookies, Google Analytics collects information about how you use the site: the pages and search filters you view, the clinics you click, the website that referred you, your device and browser, and your approximate location based on your IP address. If you used Nearest, the rounded location in the page address may be included in what Google records.
Clinic and practitioner information. Clinics that list on Instatherapy provide us with business information such as clinic name, address, phone number, hours, services offered, insurers accepted, and availability status. They also provide details about their practitioners, such as name, profession, photo and bio, which we publish as part of the listing. Clinics are responsible for having their practitioners' agreement to be listed. Clinic account holders also provide contact and billing information to manage their account.
Clinic sign-up requests. If you ask to list your clinic through our Get started form, we collect your name, role, email address and phone number, along with details about your clinic: its name, website, city, services, number of practitioners, visit types, the insurers it accepts, and any message you choose to add. We use this only to review your request, set up your account, and follow up with you by email or phone. Please do not include personal health information in the message field.
Messages to us. If you contact us, for example by email, we collect whatever information you choose to include in that message, and we keep our reply.
We do not collect health or medical information through Instatherapy. We do not process appointments or bookings, so we do not receive appointment details, medical history, or insurance claim information; that information stays between you and the clinic. Patients do not need an account to use the site, and we do not ask patients for their name or contact details.
2. How we use information
We use the information above to:
- Operate and improve the search, location and availability features of our site
- Display accurate, up-to-date clinic and practitioner listings
- Show clinics totals on how often their listing is seen and clicked, so they can see how people find them
- Understand how the site is used, so we can fix problems and prioritize improvements
- Review clinic sign-up requests, set up and manage accounts and billing, and follow up with the people who sent them
- Respond to questions sent to us directly
- Detect and prevent misuse of the site, and keep it secure
- Meet our legal obligations
We do not use personal information for advertising. If we want to use it for a new purpose, we will tell you and ask for your consent first where the law requires it.
3. Cookies and similar technologies
The first time you visit, we ask whether you agree to analytics cookies. Google Analytics stays off until you accept, and declining does not limit what you can do on the site. You can change your choice at any time with the Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page. If you withdraw consent, we stop sending data to Google Analytics and delete the analytics cookies we can reach in your browser.
What is stored in your browser:
- it_consent (ours, a cookie kept for up to 180 days, always on): remembers your cookie choice. It does not track you.
- _ga and _ga_ followed by an ID (Google Analytics cookies, kept for up to 2 years, only if you accept): tell us which pages are used and how people find the site, in aggregate.
- Session storage (ours, cleared when you close the tab, always on): holds the random ID used for the anonymous usage counts, and, where cancellation alerts are shown, a short list of the alerts you have already seen. It is not a cookie and is not sent to other websites.
Google Maps. Clinic pages show a Google map of the clinic's address. When the map loads, your browser connects to Google, which receives your IP address and browser details and may set its own cookies, under Google's privacy policy. The map loads whether or not you accept analytics cookies.
You can also block or delete cookies and site data in your browser settings; that will not prevent you from browsing listings.
4. Sharing of information
We do not sell personal information. We share information only with service providers that help us operate the site, each of which may use it only to provide its service to us:
- Vercel, which hosts and delivers the website
- Supabase, which provides the database that holds listings, sign-up requests and anonymous usage counts
- Google, for Google Analytics (only if you accept analytics cookies) and Google Maps on clinic pages
- Email providers: Google for our inbox, and Resend for account emails we send to clinics
- Stripe, which processes payments for clinic accounts
Clinics see only totals about how their listing is viewed and clicked, never information about individual visitors. We do not share clinic sign-up requests with other clinics.
We may disclose information if required by law, or to protect the rights, safety or security of our users, the public or Instatherapy. If Instatherapy is involved in a merger, sale or reorganization, information may be transferred to the new owner, who must continue to protect it under this policy.
When you follow a link to a clinic's own booking page or website, that clinic's privacy practices apply, not ours.
5. Where information is stored
Our hosting, database, analytics and mapping providers may store and process information on servers outside Canada, including in the United States. Where that happens, information is subject to the laws of that country, and its courts, law enforcement and national security authorities may be able to access it. Contact us if you would like more detail about where your information is processed.
6. How long we keep information
- Clinic and practitioner listings: for as long as needed to maintain accurate listings.
- Clinic sign-up requests: until you ask us to delete them. To make that request, contact us at instatherapy604@gmail.com.
- Anonymous usage counts: the individual records are deleted after 180 days. Before that, they are added into daily totals that no longer include any browser ID, which we keep so clinics can see trends over time.
- Google Analytics: event-level data is kept for 14 months, after which it is deleted automatically.
- Server logs: kept by our hosting provider for a limited time under its own settings.
- Messages to us: for as long as needed to respond and keep a record of our reply.
When we no longer need personal information, we delete it or make it anonymous.
7. Your choices and rights
Under BC's PIPA and Canada's PIPEDA, you have the right to ask what personal information we hold about you and to see it, to ask us to correct it, to ask us to delete it, and to withdraw your consent, subject to legal and contractual limits. To exercise these rights, contact us at instatherapy604@gmail.com. We may need to confirm who you are first, and we aim to respond within 30 days.
You can also make choices without contacting us: change your analytics choice with the Cookie settings link, decline the browser's location prompt, or clear your browser's cookies and site data. Anonymous usage counts and Google Analytics data are not linked to your name, so we may not be able to find them for you.
If you are a practitioner and want your listing corrected or removed, contact us or ask your clinic.
8. Children's privacy
Instatherapy is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
9. Security
We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect information in our care, including encrypted connections to the site and restricting access to sign-up requests and account information to our team and our service providers. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. Changes are reflected by updating the "last updated" date above. If we make a material change, such as using personal information for a new purpose, we will say so on this page and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent again.
11. Contact us and complaints
Questions about this policy, or about how we handle personal information, can be sent to our Privacy Officer at instatherapy604@gmail.com.
If we have not resolved a concern to your satisfaction, you can contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.