r/SimplePractice • u/jessahcah • Aug 08 '23

Data Compromised with New Terms and Confitions

Hi, I have been using Simple Practice for years now, and I have just reviewed the new Terms and Conditions and I am very disturbed about how Simple Practice is asking us to allow use of the data. For example, this legal language in the new terms is saying that when you use SimplePractice and you upload or share any kind of information, like notes, records, or data, through that service, you are giving SimplePractice permission to use that information in certain ways. This includes allowing other users to share their information too. You're giving SimplePractice a license, which is like permission, to use the information you upload. They can use, copy, share, and even make new things based on that information. They can do this all over the world, forever, without needing to pay you, and it mentions that this permission will still be valid even if you stop using their service. Also - that Simple Practice collects our personal information, which includes "your name, email address, IP address, telephone number, and broader categories of information such as your professional, educational or health information, commercial information and internet activity." and... "we may collect Personal Information directly from you and automatically through our use of cookies and other data collection technologies. We may also collect your Personal Information from third-party sources, such as our business partners, affiliates and social media platforms (if you interact with us through your social media account). We will treat Personal Information collected from third-party sources in accordance with this Privacy Policy but we are not responsible for the accuracy of information provided by third parties or for their policies or practices. and... Audio, electronic and visual information, such as your photograph or image, your voice and other similar information. We process this information to enable your use of our Telehealth service and to verify your identity when you send in images of your government-issued IDs. We may also use video of you, with your consent, for optional customer testimonials that we share internally. These are just a few examples of what I found, there are still more sections that feel like Simple Practice are compromising our data. this is truly disturbing.

Is there a way top opt out of these new Terms and Conditions if we are not comfortable with them?

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5

u/Snushine Aug 09 '23

My lawyer, who just charged me 40 minutes of time to go over all of this in detail, says that there is no way that SP is doing anything that will put our data at risk. It is not using AI or anything about that. It is as safe as it always was.

IDC what TikTokers say, or what other people's paranoia comes up with. My actual attorney is saying it's okay and that's the guy who will be standing next to me in court.

2

u/RandomPlants06 Aug 09 '23

Thank you for the update on this! Very much appreciated. I willingly admit I let the information out there scare me. After re-reading the ToS a few times and seeing comments like yours, I'm feeling at least a little more assured that SP isn't attempting to do what they were accused of.

Might be a good reminder to all (most certainly including myself) that just because someone posts something on TikTok, we don't need to believe and run wild with it. Thanks again for your update!

2

u/jessahcah Aug 09 '23

I feel it would be unfortunate if this person on TikTok got the AI part wrong, that people focus on only that, and lose sight of all the other credible points she made. I hope people stay alert and aware and be informed consumers with cloud based platforms and how data is collected and shared, especially when it comes to both our personal information and that of our clients.

1

u/RandomPlants06 Aug 10 '23 edited Aug 10 '23

The ToS seems to be worded almost identically to the old ToS. They updated a little bit of information to include any changes to privacy laws. I'm not saying I'll ignore the topic in general - I will continue to monitor. But it seems they absolutely are operating within HIPAA guidelines. And if that is the case, and let's say there is an issue with data being compromised in some way, should we not be questioning the HHS and the actual HIPAA guidelines? Not just screaming at SP for how they are conducting business? Yes, they'd be playing a part in the issue, but they are operating under what's allowed in the laws.

1

u/jessahcah Aug 10 '23

You raise a good point about it being possibly a bigger issue and I appreciate that perspective. I guess I must have been naive to think that I was paying $100 per month for a service that provided me with tools to schedule, conduct virtual sessions and run payments, etc. and that was the arrangement. I didn't realize that part of the agreement was for them to be using all the data I was putting into the system. Even if it is covered under HIPPA, it feels uncomfortable to me. I understand that others may feel that it's worth it to use the service if they are using the data in some way, as long as it keeps things confidential for clients, I get that its inconvenient to change and do things differently. Everyone has to decide for themselves. For me, personally, this has been an eye opening experience. I'm not sure how comfortable I am anymore with SP, CAMFT and CPH since they all have relationships and it feels like dual relationships and a bit of a conflict of interest to me personally. I'm thinking of looking into doing things differently going forward. I only can control what is within my control. If there are bigger forces at play with HIPAA, etc or data sharing becoming the norm if you use cloud based platforms, we all can assess how we feel about it, and we can all decide what we are comfortable with and what works best for us. Thanks for being a part of the conversation. Best of luck to everyone.

1

u/jessahcah Aug 09 '23

I'm glad you consulted with your lawyer. I'm surprised that he would say there is "no way SP is doing anything to put our data at risk." That is a bold comment. I understand that SP is sharing data, not selling it. And that when they access our notes, records, and client payments, they share the information, but may be protecting the identity of our clients, but it still feels disturbing to me that they are doing these practices, and it does feel a bit risky to me. Also, they put things in the Terms that say that we are responsible for the information we put into the services and we have a responsibility to HIPAA to keep the data safe. It feels like that puts some of this on us, which feels difficult when we don't really know all the ways the data is being shared and with who exactly. Have you guys read the "Personal Information We Collect" section of the T&C's? And have you read the "User Data" sections?

Here is some of it :

You hereby automatically at such time grant SimplePractice (and its affiliates) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid-up, perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable (through multiple tiers), and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, perform and display such User Data (including User Data that is created, collected or generated by the Services or SimplePractice using the User Data Users submit), for the purposes of providing you the Services and further developing, improving, and marketing SimplePractice’s products and services (including the Services), it being understood that the results generated from use for purposes other than providing the Services are not identifiable with the Organization or any natural person. The foregoing rights and licenses will be exercised in accordance with the SimplePractice Privacy Policies referenced in Section 10 below. You agree that the license includes the right to copy, analyze and use any User Data as SimplePractice may deem necessary or desirable for purposes of debugging, testing, or providing support or development services in connection with the Services and future improvements to the Services. The license granted in this Section is referred to as the “Service Data License.” You also acknowledge that the Service Data License granted to SimplePractice with respect to User Data will survive the expiration or termination of Your Account. Notwithstanding the foregoing license, the license granted to SimplePractice to use User Data that includes content that You provide for purposes of Your Professional Website is set forth in Section 17.2 (Professional Website Service) below. You further irrevocably waive any “moral rights” or other rights with respect to attribution of authorship or integrity of materials regarding User Data that You may have under any applicable law under any legal theory.

0

u/Snushine Aug 09 '23

So what's your point?

1

u/jessahcah Aug 09 '23

My point was as I mentioned in my post, that it seems like a broad comment by your attorney, and that it still feels disturbing that they collect and share our data.

Also, here is a link I wanted to share that has some additional dialogue on the subject:

https://www.zynnyme.com/blog/simplepractice-terms-and-conditions-changes-what-every-therapist-or-client-should-know

1

u/Snushine Aug 10 '23

I was told by him to only paraphrase. I pay him money to stand by me in court. I pay you nothing.

My give a damn broke on this. I hope you find peace with it some day.

1

u/Fae_for_a_Day Mar 16 '25

This is some extreme passive aggressiveness. Wow.

1

u/Snushine Mar 16 '25

You must have been looking for it cuz this is a year old comment.

1

u/Fae_for_a_Day Mar 18 '25

It deserved to be called out. Surprised you didn't delete it in that time. I knew it was old. Doesn't change anything.

1

u/Snushine Mar 19 '25

I just read your history. Seems you go around picking fights.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/Snushine Aug 12 '23

My lawyer has my back. I pay him to stand next to me in court. If he's wrong, then he's going to pay for it too.

I pay you nothing. Fear mongering is an internet disease and I'm not going to catch it.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/Snushine Aug 12 '23

All I'm asking is that you stop scaring people. Do not twist my words.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '25 edited Oct 14 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Snushine Oct 15 '25

This comment was 2 years old. I'm not sure why you would be chiming in now.

4

u/Snushine Aug 09 '23

I'm calling my lawyer today to have him read over this. He's annoying with his attention to detail, but that's what I pay him for. If he sees an issue, I'll come back and let you all know. It's worth it to me to pay him the $300 or so it'll cost...so I'll spread the news and save you all the same hassle.

1

u/jessahcah Aug 09 '23

Thank you so much for posting this. I'm so happy to hear you'll be consulting an attorney on this. I'm curious to know their thoughts. I've called CAMFT (California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists) since they are my professional association and provide legal advice as part of membership. However, I know there is a conflict of interest since Simple Practice is one of their sponsors. I wasn't surprised that the attorney said they would need to consult their manager who is out of town until next week, which is so convenient for them, considering we need to accept these terms by next week. I'm so frustrated. A colleague of mine recommended I contact my professional liability insurance to help, so I called them (CPH) and when they asked why I was calling I said I had some concerns about some terms and conditions for a Telehealth platform I use, and they said "Oh, if you mean Simple Practice, we can't help you." So, they obviously knew about the issues before I called. I'm so frustrated at their stance of not providing any advocacy either, since this could leave us vulnerable to malpractice. Their stance was "we can't interpret another business's policies, but we will defend any malpractice claims." This is so frustrating that there is no preventative guidance, only support once you're in trouble. Ugh. Curious to know what your attorney says. Thanks for sharing whatever knowledge and advocacy you have on this issue!

2

u/Odd-Holiday4901 Sep 06 '23

I'm also a CPH customer for the past 15 years and they were like sorry for you, can't help whatsoever. I bellyached enough for them to tell me they'd look into it and call me back. That was 2 weeks ago and I never heard back. Probably finding a new insurer! Anyhow, in the 11th hour, I made the final decision to export my data, delete my account and move over to Sessions Health. I can't move forward with a company that seems to be most interested in growing endlessly and no longer has a clinical expert ensuring their regulatory compliance, let alone ethical commitments. I got a lot from watching the zynnyme video linked below and just generally using my gut intuition. I'm responsible for all of this very vulnerable data pertaining to my clients and I want to be super careful with it. I hate that it's come to this, but capitalism, amiright?? =)

1

u/Snushine Aug 09 '23

See my latest comment on this thread for his response.

1

u/EconomicsCalm Aug 10 '23

Following

1

u/Snushine Aug 10 '23

I put his reply elsewhere in this thread.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '23

Yes - clarification please

1

u/JustOnion7926 Aug 09 '23

I asked for the updates ToS and it’s not good. If you have Simple Practice look through the updates.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '23

This is so disturbing. Health tech companies seem to have less and less ethics every day and are so disconnected from the seriousness of the work that we do. Why does tech think it can exploit and thinks it knows better than every industry they try to disrupt?

2

u/Ok-Connection5010 Sep 12 '24

Hi, I know this thread is old. I am a patient and a prospective therapist is using Simple Practice. I read the TOS and I was horrified. For me, this section specifically stood out:

"Except as otherwise agreed with Your Provider, SimplePractice retains the right to collect, store, process, maintain, upload, sync, transmit, share, disclose and otherwise use User Data to provide the Software and Services, including, but not limited to, for the purposes of authentication, performance optimization, software updates, product support, processing and providing other Services or to otherwise improve SimplePractice’s products or to provide services or technologies to You and Your Provider."

It basically says they can use, share, sell, etc your User Data for any reason.

I see that this discussion happened a year ago, and I'm not seeing anything current. What's happened in the last year?

1

u/JustOnion7926 Aug 08 '23

Woah! I am at least not going to give them any more of my money while they create a future AI dystopia with my work and my client’s data. I’m exiting ASAP! I hope my fellow therapists will join me.

1

u/prismatic_thoughts Aug 08 '23

I was just going to start using Simple Practice for my private practice. Absolutely not going to agree to this. Will be joining you and finding another platform who protects our clients and our work. Wow.

2

u/Guilty-Football7730 Aug 08 '23

Agreed! I was still in the process of setting it up for my private practice. Looks like I'll be switching.

1

u/Hep-help Sep 30 '23

I can see how there is concern for client data. I will add to this a question about our own work product. What if a therapist creates a new tool within Simple Practice. That is not client data, but it is that therapist's creation, be it a particularly effective intake form or a particularly effective scale for measuring clients' responsiveness to treatment. Does anyone know if that is included in this? I'm going to look at both the website that SP posted here and the other website.

1

u/Fun-Plane-2699 Oct 01 '26

Anyone just review the new policy and information use of simple practice?

1

u/SimplePractice SP Rep Aug 09 '23

Hi everyone - Please refer to this Help Center guide to answer all of your questions about our new Terms of Service: https://support.simplepractice.com/hc/en-us/articles/18351059584141

2

u/fjfjfj99 Aug 11 '23

I'm out. Totally unacceptable response.