Who we are
CareGuide (“CareGuide,” “we,” “us”) provides educational recovery guidance grounded in orthopedic surgeons’ own protocols, through our website, patient portal, and mobile apps (together, the “Service”). This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have.
CareGuide is an educational tool. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Information we collect
- Account information — your name, email address, password (stored as a salted hash), preferred language, and the providers you link to your account.
- Recovery and health information you log — daily check-ins (such as pain, confidence, sleep, and notes), your procedure and surgery date when set by your provider, and answers you give in guided flows such as the informed-consent interview.
- Questions and conversations — the questions you ask and the answers you receive, so you can revisit them and so your linked care team can improve their protocols. Anonymous (guest) questions are stored with a session identifier, not an account.
- Wearables data — if you choose to connect a supported device (such as Whoop or Oura), we store the daily summary metrics the provider shares (for example sleep duration and recovery scores). Access tokens are encrypted at rest, and you can disconnect at any time.
- Usage and device information — standard logs and analytics events (such as pages viewed and features used) that help us keep the Service reliable and improve it.
How we use information
- To operate the Service and answer your questions using your surgeon’s protocols and published research.
- To power your recovery portal — check-ins, recovery score, and recovery plan.
- To let your linked care team see how your recovery is progressing.
- To maintain safety, security, and audit records (for example, your acknowledgment of our educational-use notice).
- To improve the Service, in aggregated or de-identified form wherever possible.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.
How information is shared
- Your care team — providers you link can see your check-ins, recovery trends, and questions relevant to your care.
- Service providers — vendors that host our infrastructure, process AI responses, deliver email, and provide analytics, under agreements that limit their use of your information to providing services to us.
- Legal — when required by law or to protect the rights, safety, or security of CareGuide, our users, or others.
Data retention and deletion
We keep your information while your account is active. You can delete your account at any time — in the mobile app under Settings → Delete account, or by contacting us. Deletion permanently removes your account and the data keyed to it, including conversations, check-ins, linked providers, and wearable connections.
Security
All traffic to the Service is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Passwords are stored as salted bcrypt hashes, wearable tokens are encrypted at rest, and access to production systems is restricted. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password.
Children
The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. Recovering patients under 18 should use CareGuide with a parent or guardian.
Your choices
- Update your name, language, and linked providers in the app or portal.
- Disconnect wearables at any time.
- Use guest mode to ask questions without an account.
- Delete your account and data as described above.
Changes to this policy
We will post any changes here and update the date above. For material changes we will notify you in the Service.