Veterans Desk, Inc. No-PHI Site Policy

Prohibited Submissions + Safe Contact Instructions

Effective Date: [Month Day, Year]
Last Updated: [Month Day, Year]

Veterans Desk, Inc. (“Veterans Desk,” “we,” “us,” “our”) operates an educational and directory website. To protect veterans, families, and providers—and to reduce privacy risk—our Site is not designed to receive, store, or transmit Protected Health Information (“PHI”) or patient-specific medical information.

Do not submit PHI through any part of this Site, including contact forms, directory forms, messages, file uploads, free-text fields, comments, or chat features.

This No-PHI Site Policy is incorporated into our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

1) What This Policy Covers

This policy applies to all Site areas, including:

• Contact forms and “Request Help” forms,
• Provider and Enrollment Coordinator directory listings,
• Messages, comments, or free-text submissions,
• Uploads (documents, images, PDFs),
• Any third-party forms embedded into our Site.

2) What Counts as PHI or “Patient-Specific Medical Information.”

PHI generally means health information linked to an identifiable person (or that could reasonably identify a person), including information about a person’s past, present, or future health condition, healthcare received, or payment for healthcare.

Examples include (not exhaustive):

• Diagnoses, symptoms, treatment plans, clinical notes, mental/behavioral health notes,
• Lab results, imaging results, prescriptions, or medication lists,
• Appointment summaries, discharge paperwork, referral documents containing patient data,
• Insurance member IDs, claim numbers, and billing statements tied to a patient,
• Photos of medical documents, screenshots of patient portals,
• Combinations of identifying details with health context (name + condition, DOB + diagnosis, etc.).

If it relates to a specific person’s medical care and could identify them, don’t submit it.

3) Prohibited Submissions (Do Not Send)

You agree not to submit any of the following through the Site:

A) Medical records or patient documents

• Medical records, lab reports, imaging reports, referrals, consult notes,
• Discharge summaries, medication lists,
• VA/clinic letters that contain patient identifiers.

B) Identifiers tied to a patient

• Full name + health information,
• Date of birth + health information,
• Social Security numbers,
• VA file numbers, claim numbers, or insurance IDs tied to a person,
• patient portal screenshots.

C) Sensitive identity documents

• Driver’s licenses, passports, military IDs, DD-214s,
• any government ID images (unless a specific feature explicitly requests it and provides secure instructions).

D) Payment card data

• Full credit/debit card number, CVV, PIN, or bank account credentials (unless processed through a secure payment provider checkout page).

E) Anything you would not want publicly exposed

If you do not want it accidentally displayed, forwarded, or accessed, do not submit it.

4) What You Can Submit (Safe Alternatives)

You may submit:

• General questions about how Community Care works (no names, no dates of birth, no patient details),
• Provider/practice contact details and business information,
• Non-patient administrative questions,
• Feedback about the website or directory,
• Directory corrections that do not include patient information.

Best practice: Use general descriptions like “a veteran” or “a provider” rather than names.

5) Safe Contact Instructions (How to Reach Providers)

Veterans Desk is a directory and education platform. If you need to discuss your care, scheduling, or medical details, do not do so through Veterans Desk.

Instead:

1. Contact your VA care team through official VA channels.
2. Contact the provider’s office using the phone number or website listed in the directory.
3. If you need to share medical records, do so only through the provider’s secure intake process or patient portal.

6) Enrollment Coordinators: Additional No-PHI Rule

Enrollment Coordinators listed on the Veterans Desk are independent professionals and are not Veterans Desk employees. Veterans Desk does not manage or supervise its services.

No PHI through Veterans Desk:
Do not send patient-specific medical information to Enrollment Coordinators using Veterans Desk forms, messages, uploads, or directory tools.

If a provider chooses to work with an Enrollment Coordinator, the provider and coordinator must use their own secure systems and follow applicable privacy and security rules.

7) If You Submit PHI Anyway

If you submit PHI or prohibited content:

• You authorize Veterans Desk to remove, redact, or delete it,
• We may suspend or restrict your access to the Site to prevent further risk,
• We may preserve limited records as needed for security, compliance, or legal reasons.

We are not responsible for PHI submitted contrary to this policy.

8) Reporting a Privacy Concern

If you believe you accidentally submitted PHI or see PHI posted on the Site, contact us immediately:

Privacy Email: [privacy@veteransdesk.org]
Subject line: “Urgent: PHI Removal Request.”

Include:

• The page URL (if available),
• A brief description of what was posted (do not re-send the PHI),
• How can we contact you?

9) Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the updated version with a new “Last Updated” date.

10) Contact

Veterans Desk, Inc.
Mailing Address: [Insert Address]
Privacy Email: [privacy@veteransdesk.org]
Support Email: [support@veteransdesk.org]