Consumer Health Data Privacy

The HRT Index covers a women's health topic that touches the definitions of consumer health data in Washington State's My Health My Data Act, in Nevada Senate Bill 370, and in similar laws adopted or under consideration in other states. This page describes, in plain language, what consumer health data the site does and does not collect, how it is used, how it is shared (or not), and how you can request access or deletion.

What we do not do

The HRT Index is an editorial publication. It is not a clinical service, a pharmacy, a prescriber, a telehealth provider, or a medical device. Specifically:

• We do not provide healthcare, prescribe medication, order labs, or generate diagnoses.
• We do not collect identified information about your health conditions, symptoms, medications, prescriptions, lab results, diagnoses, treatment plans, or appointments.
• We do not link any analytics data we collect to your identity. We do not build identified health-data profiles about readers.
• We do not sell consumer health data. We do not share consumer health data with data brokers.

What we collect that could be inferred as health-adjacent

The fact that you are reading editorial content on a women's health publication could, in principle, be inferred from analytics data as health-adjacent interest. We collect that analytics data in aggregate, anonymised form (see our privacy policy) and do not link it to your identity. We do not use it to build an identified health-interest profile of you. We do not share it with vendors, advertisers, or data brokers in identified form.

When you click a “Visit [Provider]” affiliate link to a third-party provider's site, the third-party provider may collect health-related information from you on their own site, under their own privacy practices. The HRT Index is not responsible for what happens after you leave our site, and we recommend reviewing the destination provider's privacy policy before sharing any health information with them.

If you send us a message

If you write to the editorial team via our contact page and choose to include health information about yourself in your message — for example, in a correction submission or a story pitch — we will use that information only to respond to your inquiry. We will not share it with vendors, advertisers, data brokers, or third parties without your explicit consent. We recommend that you do not include identified health information in messages to us unless it is necessary for your inquiry.

Your rights

Under the Washington My Health My Data Act and similar state laws, you have the right to confirm whether we collect, share, or sell consumer health data about you; to access that data; to request its deletion; and to withdraw any consent you previously gave. To exercise these rights, write to the editorial team via our contact page and indicate the right you would like to exercise. We will acknowledge your request within the timeframe required by applicable law and will respond substantively within forty-five days.

Authorised agents

You may designate an authorised agent to exercise your rights on your behalf. We may ask the agent to provide written proof of authorisation and may ask you to verify your identity directly.

Changes to this page

This page will be updated as the consumer health data law landscape evolves and as our own practices change. The “Last updated” date at the top of the page reflects the most recent revision.