Privacy Policy

HPSAFinder.com is a product and website independently owned and operated by Grants Republic. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by, certified by, or operated on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS"), the Health Resources and Services Administration ("HRSA"), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"), Medicare, Medicaid, or any other government agency.

The Site may use public information from CMS, HRSA, and other sources to provide informational search and calculation tools. This Privacy Policy applies to information collected by Grants Republic, not to information collected by government websites or other third parties that you visit through external links.

The categories below describe the personal information that we may collect. The categories actually collected depend on how you use the Site.

A. Search and calculator information

When you use the HPSA search or Medicare bonus calculator, you may enter:

• An address, city, county, state, ZIP Code, or other service-location information;
• Provider type, medical specialty, place of service, or similar professional information;
• Medicare payment amounts, eligible-service amounts, service volume, or other figures used to produce an estimate;
• Search filters, selections, and calculated results.

Do not enter patient names, Medicare beneficiary identifiers, medical-record numbers, diagnoses, claims containing patient identifiers, or other patient-level information. Search and calculator fields are not designed to receive protected health information.

Implementation choice

• Privacy-minimizing option: Calculator entries are processed in your browser and are not transmitted to or stored by Grants Republic, except that ordinary technical logs may record device and usage information.

B. Contact and referral information

If you contact us or voluntarily request an introduction to a hospital, medical practice, health system, staffing company, recruiter, placement agency, or other organization (a "Referral Partner"), we may collect your name, email address, and telephone number. Submitting a referral request is optional and is not required to use the free HPSA search or calculator.

C. Device and usage information

When you use the Site, we and our service providers may automatically collect an Internet Protocol address, browser type and version, device type and identifiers, pages viewed, links clicked, search performance, referring page, date and time of activity, general location inferred from an IP address, and diagnostic, security, error, and performance information.

If you enter an address or other specific location, we may use it to identify the applicable geographic area, HPSA designation, map result, or calculation. Depending on the Site's configuration, the address or derived coordinates may be transmitted to our mapping or geocoding service provider solely to provide that function. We do not use entered addresses to infer a user's home location or for cross-context behavioral advertising.

D. Cookies and similar technologies

The Site may use cookies, local storage, pixels, software development kits, and comparable technologies to operate the Site, remember preferences, measure traffic, diagnose problems, prevent abuse, and understand how users interact with the Site.

E. Information from others

We may receive information from service providers that host, secure, analyze, or support the Site; Referral Partners concerning the status of a referral; public and government sources; and a person or organization that submits information with authority to act for you. If you provide information about another person, you represent that you have authority to do so and have supplied any required notice and obtained any required consent.

The Site does not require user accounts and is not designed to collect:

• Patient names, Medicare beneficiary identifiers, medical records, diagnoses, treatment information, or identifiable claims data;
• Social Security numbers, financial-account credentials, or payment-card information;
• Biometric identifiers;
• Genetic information; or
• Information from children under 13.

Do not submit these types of information. If we learn that prohibited or unnecessary sensitive information has been submitted, we may delete it, restrict access to it, or take other appropriate action.

We may use personal information to:

• Operate, maintain, secure, troubleshoot, and improve the Site;
• Process HPSA searches and calculator inputs and display requested results;
• Respond to questions, support requests, and feedback;
• Process a referral that you affirmatively request;
• Send your authorized contact and professional information to the identified Referral Partner;
• Communicate with you about a specific referral or request;
• Measure Site performance and understand usage patterns;
• Detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, misuse, security incidents, and unlawful activity;
• Maintain records of notices, consent, referrals, opt-outs, and privacy requests;
• Enforce our Terms of Use and protect our rights and the rights of others;
• Comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests; and
• Carry out a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, or transfer of some or all of our business or assets.

We will not use personal information for a materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purpose without providing additional notice and obtaining consent when required. We do not use automated decision-making to make employment, credentialing, insurance, housing, credit, or other similarly significant decisions about you.

If you affirmatively request a referral, we may disclose the contact and professional information identified on the referral form to the Referral Partner you select or to the clearly described category of Referral Partners you authorize. We may receive a referral fee, placement fee, commission, advertising payment, or other compensation if you request an introduction, communicate with a Referral Partner, apply for or accept a position, or complete another qualifying action.

Before you submit a referral request, the Site will provide a separate, unchecked authorization that identifies:

• The Referral Partner or a reasonable multi-recipient category;
• The information that will be disclosed;
• The purpose of the disclosure;
• The fact that Grants Republic may receive compensation; and
• The communication methods you are requesting.

Your referral authorization is optional and separate from acceptance of the Site's Terms of Use. Withdrawing authorization stops future disclosures and communication but cannot reverse a disclosure already completed at your direction.

We may disclose personal information to the following categories of recipients:

Service providers and contractors

We may provide information to companies that perform services for us, such as website hosting, cloud storage, security, analytics, mapping or geocoding, form processing, email delivery, customer support, and professional consulting. They may use information only as permitted by their agreements and applicable law.

Referral Partners

At your affirmative direction, we may disclose the information specified in the referral form to the identified hospital, medical practice, health system, staffing company, recruiter, placement agency, or other Referral Partner. The Referral Partner's subsequent collection and use of your information is governed by its own privacy policy and legal obligations.

Legal and safety recipients

We may disclose information when we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to comply with law, legal process, or a lawful government request; protect rights, safety, or property; investigate fraud or security incidents; or enforce our agreements.

Professional advisers

We may disclose information to attorneys, accountants, auditors, insurers, and other professional advisers when reasonably necessary for their services.

Business-transfer recipients

Information may be disclosed or transferred in connection with due diligence, negotiation, or completion of a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, sale of assets, or similar transaction, subject to applicable law.

With your consent or direction

We may disclose information for another purpose that is clearly described when you provide consent or direct us to make the disclosure.

For California law purposes, "sale" can include disclosure of personal information to a third party for monetary or other valuable consideration, and "sharing" generally concerns disclosure for cross-context behavioral advertising. California consumers may have a right to opt out when these practices occur, and the CCPA applies to the business.

We do not use personal information collected through the Site for targeted advertising. We do not disclose personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and we do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16.

Consumer-directed referral not treated as a sale

Referral disclosures requested by you, when you submit a referral request and affirmatively authorize us to send specified information to a named Referral Partner, are disclosures that you direct. Depending on the applicable law and the facts of a particular arrangement, a compensated referral disclosure may be treated as a sale. If applicable law requires an opt-out or other notice for a referral arrangement, we will provide it.

You can manage cookies through your browser settings and, if available, the Site's cookie-preference tool. Blocking some cookies may prevent parts of the Site from functioning correctly.

Do Not Track

HPSAFinder.com does not currently respond to browser "Do Not Track" signals. Do Not Track is a browser setting for which there is no universally adopted technical standard. We describe our data practices, cookies, analytics, and available privacy choices in this Privacy Policy.

Global Privacy Control

HPSAFinder.com does not sell personal information or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. Accordingly, a Global Privacy Control signal will not change the Site's advertising practices. If our practices change and a recognized opt-out preference signal applies, we will process it as required by applicable law.

Third-party analytics and embedded services

We may use third-party service providers to support website analytics, mapping, geocoding, security, and other Site functions. When these services load or operate, their providers may automatically receive information such as your IP address, browser or device information, pages viewed, search location, referring website, and interactions with the applicable feature.

If you contact us or request a referral, we may send messages necessary to respond to your request or administer the referral. If we use marketing communications, we will obtain consent when required and provide a method to unsubscribe.

Choosing not to receive marketing messages does not prevent us from sending messages concerning a request you made, a privacy or security matter, or another service-related issue. Consent to disclose information for a referral does not by itself constitute consent to automated calls, prerecorded calls, or marketing text messages; any such consent should be requested separately.

We retain each category of personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the disclosed purpose, subject to legal, accounting, security, dispute-resolution, and recordkeeping requirements.

When retention expires, we will delete, deidentify, or securely dispose of the information unless continued retention is required or permitted by law.

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information. No website, network, storage system, or transmission method is completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security. We maintain security practices designed to support data minimization, limited access, appropriate safeguards, secure disposal, and incident planning.

The Site is intended for adults and professional users and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information, contact stan@grantsrepublic.com so we can review and delete it as appropriate. COPPA imposes notice and parental-consent requirements on child-directed services and general-audience services with actual knowledge that they collect personal information from a child under 13.

The Site may link to CMS, HRSA, hospitals, medical practices, staffing organizations, Referral Partners, and other third-party services. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies, not this Privacy Policy. Review a third party's privacy policy before providing information to it. We are not responsible for the privacy, security, or content of third-party websites or services.

This section applies to California residents to the extent the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (collectively, the "CCPA"), applies to Grants Republic and the relevant information.

Subject to exceptions and verification requirements, California residents may have the right to:

• Know and access: Request the categories and specific pieces of personal information collected, sources, purposes, recipients, and sale or sharing disclosures;
• Delete: Request deletion of personal information collected from them;
• Correct: Request correction of inaccurate personal information;
• Opt out: Direct a covered business not to sell or share personal information;
• Limit: Limit certain uses and disclosures of sensitive personal information when that right applies;
• Data portability: Receive certain information in a portable and usable format; and
• Nondiscrimination: Receive equal service and pricing when exercising privacy rights.

We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that give rise to a right to limit under California law.

Submitting a request

Submit a request by email to stan@grantsrepublic.com. Describe the right you want to exercise and provide sufficient information for us to locate relevant records. We may deny or limit a request when we cannot verify identity or authority, an exception applies, fulfilling the request would infringe another person's rights, or applicable law otherwise permits.

Authorized agents

You may designate an authorized agent to submit a request. We may require proof of the agent's authority and may ask you to verify your identity or confirm that you authorized the request, unless the agent has a valid power of attorney under applicable law.

Appeals

If we deny your privacy request, you may appeal by emailing stan@grantsrepublic.com with the subject line "Privacy Appeal" within 60 days after our decision. Please explain why you believe the decision should be reconsidered.

California "Shine the Light"

California Civil Code section 1798.83 may allow California residents to request information concerning certain disclosures of personal information to third parties for their direct-marketing purposes. Submit a request using the contact information below with the subject "Shine the Light Request."

Residents of other U.S. states may have rights to access, correct, delete, obtain a copy of, or opt out of certain processing of personal information, depending on the law and whether it applies to Grants Republic. Submit a request through the methods listed above. We will process it under the law that applies to our operations. Where required, you may appeal our decision. You may also contact your state attorney general or privacy regulator.

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in the Site, our practices, vendors, technology, or legal requirements. We will post the revised version on this page and revise the "Last updated" date. If a change materially affects how we use or disclose previously collected personal information, we will provide additional notice and obtain consent when required. CCPA-covered operators will be notified of material policy changes and the policy's effective date.

For questions, privacy requests, or complaints, contact: