Telehealth startup Cerebral shares data of 3.1 mn patients with advertisers

San Francisco, March 11 : US-based telehealth startup Cerebral has disclosed that it shared the private health information, including mental health assessments, of more than 3.1 million patients in the country with advertisers and social media giants like Facebook, Google and TikTok.

In a filing with the federal government, the company disclosed that they shared the personal and health information of patients who used the app to find therapy.

Names, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, IP addresses, and other demographics were collected and shared by Cerebral, as well as data gathered from the companys online mental health self-assessment, which may also have included information about the services selected by the patient, assessment responses and other associated health data.Moreover, in its notice to the customer, the telehealth startup mentioned that the data collection and sharing have been going on since October 2019, when the startup was founded.

The startup said it has now removed the tracking code from its apps.Meanwhile, Cerebral has announced to lay off around 15 per cent of its workforce in a fresh round of job cuts.

The layoffs are part of Cerebrals yearlong plan to reorganise the company and focus on the services patients want, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing sources.In October last year, the company laid off 20 per cent of its employees, as part of an effort to meet patient demand and lower growth targets.

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