How we collect, use, protect, and publish what you share with the RESPOND Act campaign — and the terms of using this site.
This website, www.respondact.com, is operated by the RESPOND Act campaign, a public advocacy campaign to restore fairness for healthcare providers facing false or abusive public online reviews, while preserving patient privacy under HIPAA. For the purposes of this notice the campaign is the party responsible for the personal information collected through this site.
RESPOND Act
211 Geiger Rd
Philadelphia, PA 19115
United States
info@respondact.com
This Privacy & Terms notice explains how we handle the information you choose to share with us through the Share Your Story form, the Contact form and the news-updates sign-up, and the terms under which you may use this site. By using the site or submitting information you agree to this notice. For any question about it, contact info@respondact.com.
We collect only what you provide. We do not collect information about you from other sources, and we do not use analytics or advertising trackers.
When you submit a story, that may include:
We ask you not to include patient names, dates of birth, or other information that could identify a patient. Please share your own experience, not a patient's records.
When you use the Contact form, we receive your name, email address, organisation (if given), the type of inquiry, and your message. The message is delivered to us by email and is not stored in our database.
When you sign up for news updates, we store your email address so we can send you campaign updates.
Technical data. Like any website, our hosting providers receive standard connection data (such as your IP address and browser type) in order to deliver pages and process submissions, and we use your IP address only to limit abuse of our forms. We do not build profiles from this data.
Your consent choices control how your story is used:
Unchecked options mean your story is stored confidentially and used only for internal analysis.
We use Contact-form messages only to answer you, and news sign-ups only to send campaign updates. We may also use any information you provide where necessary to comply with law, to enforce these terms, or to protect the rights and safety of patients, providers, or the campaign.
No story is published automatically. Before anything appears publicly, our team reviews it and removes names, dates, locations, and any specific detail that could identify a patient or a provider. Where a detail is too identifying, we generalize or remove it. Your name and identifying practice details are never published.
Submissions are encrypted in transit and stored in a secure database hosted in the United States. Access to unpublished stories, provider details and uploaded files is limited to the named moderators of the campaign, each of whom signs in with an individual account, and every moderation action is recorded. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect the information you share.
We keep your story and provider details for as long as the campaign is active, because they form part of the evidentiary record we are building for legislative reform. Published stories remain online in de-identified form until you ask us to remove them. Contact-form messages are kept in our mailbox only as long as needed to answer you. If you withdraw consent or ask for deletion, we remove your personal information within 30 days, except where we must keep a record to comply with law.
You may ask us to access, correct, or remove your story or personal information at any time, to withdraw any consent you gave, or to stop receiving email from us. To make a request, email info@respondact.com from the address you used with us, and we will act on it within 30 days. We will not treat you differently for exercising these rights. Depending on where you live you may have additional rights under state privacy law; we honour requests from anyone regardless of location.
Files you upload are used only to help verify and understand your account. Please remove or redact any patient-identifying information before uploading. You may request deletion of uploaded files at any time.
We send email only in three situations: a receipt when you submit a story and have agreed to follow-up contact; replies to messages you send us; and campaign updates if you signed up for them. Campaign updates always tell you how to stop them, and you can stop any email by writing to info@respondact.com. We never send marketing email on behalf of anyone else.
We rely on a small number of service providers to run this site. Each acts only on our instructions and may not use your information for its own purposes:
The site sets only the cookies strictly necessary for these functions, such as a moderator's sign-in session. We do not run analytics, advertising, or third-party tracking on this site, we do not sell or share your personal information for advertising, and we do not respond to browser "Do Not Track" signals because we do not track.
This site is intended for healthcare providers and other adults. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18; if you believe a minor has provided information, contact us and we will delete it.
This site is an advocacy campaign. Its content — including provider stories and explanations of HIPAA and the RESPOND Act — is for general information only and is not medical, legal, or professional advice. If you face an active legal matter, consult your own attorney before posting publicly anywhere.
By submitting a story you confirm that it is your own truthful experience as a healthcare provider, and that you have not included patient-identifying information. Do not submit content that is unlawful, defamatory, or that infringes another person's rights.
If you grant publication consent, you give the RESPOND Act campaign a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish and adapt your story in de-identified form for the campaign's advocacy and educational purposes. You may withdraw this permission for future use at any time by contacting us; we will remove the story promptly.
This site is provided "as is," without warranties of any kind. We do not guarantee that the site will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that any legislative outcome will result from this campaign.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the RESPOND Act campaign and the people who run it are not liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential loss arising from your use of this site or from a story you chose to submit. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.
These terms and this notice are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the federal laws of the United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute that cannot be resolved informally will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, and you consent to their jurisdiction. We will always try to resolve concerns informally first: write to info@respondact.com.
We may update this Privacy & Terms notice from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by the "Last updated" date above, and if you have opted in to follow-up contact we will tell you by email about any change that affects how your story is used.
Questions about your privacy or these terms? Email info@respondact.com, or reach us through the Contact page.