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Adding to the growing number of recent FTC investigations about data voluntarily being shared by telehealth platforms for profit, Cerebral reportedly notified 3.1 million users that their protected health information was shared with tech companies like Meta, Google, and TikTok. This admission by the Cerebral telehealth company is noteworthy because of the substantial valuation and size of the company, the number of patients served, the number of clinicians employed, and the breadth of services offered through the Cerebral telehealth website and Cerebral app.
In the company’s words, “Cerebral is a mental health subscription that provides clients with ongoing, comprehensive access to online care and medication management for a monthly rate. Conditions that Cerebral treats include: anxiety, depression, insomnia, postpartum depression, menopausal depression, ADHD (in certain states), trauma and PTSD, bipolar disorder (in certain states), alcohol dependence (in certain states). Additionally, we can help with: relationship issues and divorce, stress management, anger management, LGBTQI+, grief and loss, traumatic life events, confidence and self-esteem, phobias, coping with illnesses.”
Cerebral Telehealth Company Infractions
Cerebral’s problematic data sharing-for-profit marketing strategy appears to have been based on a pixel tracking technology, somewhat akin to that used by BetterHelp, GoodRx, and other companies. A Markup and Stat study reviewed by Telehealth.org in early January of 2023 showed the breadth and depth of what turns out to be an approach to marketing used by many of the leading telehealth platforms, including Cerebral. The strategy involves promising consumers their information is safe, only to knowingly provide that sensitive, perhaps even protected, health information to marketing companies for profit. With 49 of the 50 leading telehealth startups reportedly using…