Our role: facilitate, not diagnose
ElderberryMD connects patients with licensed physicians who provide care. We facilitate that connection — we do not diagnose, prescribe, or render medical opinions ourselves. Every consent you give is specific to a clearly named purpose. Consent is always optional where legally permitted, and you can withdraw any individual consent without affecting the others.
What each consent covers
ElderberryMD uses four distinct consent categories. Each is independent — withdrawing one does not automatically withdraw the others.
1. Care coordination consent
This consent allows ElderberryMD to match you with licensed physicians and care teams who can address your specific health needs. It covers:
- Sharing your health intake information with the physician(s) matched to your case
- Routing care requests to the appropriate specialist or care team
- Coordinating handoffs between providers when your care plan requires it
Without this consent, we cannot match you with a physician or coordinate care on your behalf — it is the core functional consent for using the platform.
2. Communications consent
This consent covers messages related to your care. It includes:
- Appointment reminders and scheduling confirmations
- Care updates from your physician or care team
- Platform notifications required for your active care plan
What it does not cover: marketing messages, promotional offers, or communications unrelated to your active care. Those require a separate, optional marketing consent that is off by default.
3. Data-sharing consent
This consent governs what protected health information (PHI) is shared with which provider, and when. It covers:
- Sharing specific records with a named physician you are matched with
- Sharing relevant history with a specialist if your care plan requires a referral
- Transmitting lab results or imaging to your care team
Data-sharing consent is scoped per provider relationship — you can share with one physician while declining to share with another. PHI is never shared with advertisers, data brokers, or third parties unrelated to your care. See our Privacy Policy and BAA registry for the complete list of processors.
4. Research and service-improvement consent
This is an optional, independent consent for aggregate analysis. It covers:
- Using de-identified, aggregate data to understand platform usage patterns
- Contributing anonymized, non-identifiable data to health research studies
This consent is entirely optional. Declining it has no effect on your care, your access to the platform, or any other consent. When used, data is de-identified to HIPAA Safe Harbor standards before any analysis or sharing. No individual patient is identifiable in research outputs.
How consent is collected
ElderberryMD collects consent through a structured, in-app flow during onboarding and at each step where a new type of consent is required. Each consent request:
- Names the specific purpose — you always know exactly what you are agreeing to
- Identifies the recipient — data-sharing consents name the specific physician or organization
- Is time-stamped and logged — every consent action is recorded with a UTC timestamp
- Can be reviewed at any time — your consent history is available in your account settings
You can review your active consents in your ElderberryMD account under Settings → Consent & Privacy. When the full consent management screen (EPIC-A-12) is released, you will be able to view, update, and withdraw each consent category individually from that screen. Until then, use the withdrawal process described below.
How to withdraw consent
Withdrawal SLA: under five minutes
From the moment you submit a withdrawal request, ElderberryMD stops processing your data under that consent within five minutes. Ongoing care activities that were already in progress at withdrawal (for example, a lab result transmission that started before your request) complete their current step, then stop. No new processing begins after the five-minute window closes.
Step-by-step withdrawal
- Log in to your ElderberryMD account at app.elderberrymd.com.
- Go to Settings (top-right menu → Settings → Consent & Privacy).
- Select the consent you want to withdraw — care coordination, communications, data-sharing, or research/improvement. Each is listed separately.
- Click "Withdraw consent" and confirm. A timestamped confirmation is sent to your registered email address.
What happens after withdrawal
- ElderberryMD stops processing under that consent within five minutes of your request.
- Your care coordination consent can be re-granted at any time if you want to resume using the platform.
- Withdrawing does not delete data already processed under a prior valid consent — see our Privacy Policy for data retention rules.
- If you withdraw while an active care plan is in progress, your physician is notified and the care relationship is paused pending your decision.
Emergency and safety exceptions
In a life-threatening emergency, call 911. For a mental-health crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). ElderberryMD does not provide emergency medical services. If we become aware of an immediate safety risk, we may share the minimum necessary information with emergency services regardless of your consent status — this is a legal obligation, not a consent-override.
Questions about your consent
If you have questions about what consents are active on your account, what data is being processed under each, or how to request changes, use the Contact form. Our team responds within one business day.