This Privacy Policy explains how Ta Shing Yang, doing business as Different Acupuncture (“Different Acupuncture,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), collects, uses, retains, and discloses personal information when you:
- visit https://different-acupuncture.com;
- use the appointment-booking service linked from our website;
- contact us by phone, text, or email;
- receive appointment reminders, receipts, insurance claim forms, or other digital communications from us; or
- otherwise interact with our website-related services.
We refer to these website, booking, and digital communication activities collectively as the “Services.”
This Privacy Policy focuses on information collected through the website, Square booking, and related digital communications. Information submitted through these channels may become part of a clinical record and may also be subject to applicable healthcare-record laws and separate patient documents. This Privacy Policy does not describe every use of information created during in-person examination or treatment.
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, contact us at tcmdyang@gmail.com.
1. What Information Do We Collect?
Information provided by visitors
You may provide personal information when you book an appointment through Square or contact Different Acupuncture by phone, text, or email. This information may include:
- your name;
- phone number;
- email address;
- appointment information;
- limited health information, such as your symptoms or reason for the appointment; and
- records, images, or other information you voluntarily send us.
The Different Acupuncture website does not create user accounts. Square may offer its own optional account, profile, or marketing-subscription features. Information Square collects is governed by its Privacy Notice for people who do not have a Square account and Buyer Features Privacy Notice.
Payment information
Square processes and stores the payment-card information used to secure your appointment. Different Acupuncture does not receive or store your complete card number or security code.
The card may be charged through Square if an applicable late-cancellation or no-show fee is incurred. Routine treatment fees are not paid through the website.
Information collected automatically
When you visit the website, our hosting provider may automatically receive technical information such as your IP address, browser and device type, operating system, referring page, requested pages, request dates and times, and hosting or security logs.
Google Analytics may also receive information about pages viewed, approximate geographic area derived from your IP address, traffic source, device type, and basic interaction events. We do not intentionally send names, contact information, appointment details, or health information to website analytics.
The exact information collected depends on which services are enabled when you visit.
Fixed-location map
The website displays a Google Maps image centered on the clinic’s fixed address. It does not request, obtain, or cache your device’s precise location.
When the map loads, Google may receive ordinary technical request information, such as your IP address, browser or device information, operating system, referring page, and request date and time. Google processes that information according to the Google Privacy Policy.
2. How We Use Personal Information
We use personal information as reasonably necessary to:
- schedule and manage appointments;
- send appointment confirmations, reminders, and other administrative information;
- respond to questions;
- prepare for requested appointments and communicate treatment-related instructions or follow-up information;
- process applicable late-cancellation or no-show charges and refunds;
- provide requested receipts or insurance claim forms;
- request feedback after treatment;
- publish authorized patient reviews and testimonials using the reviewer’s first name and last initial, with a link to the original public review;
- operate, secure, understand, and improve the website, including understanding how visitors find and use it; and
- comply with legal, accounting, and professional obligations or protect our legal rights.
We do not currently use personal information to send marketing emails or marketing text messages. If this practice changes, we will update this Privacy Policy.
3. When and With Whom Do We Disclose Personal Information?
We disclose personal information only as reasonably necessary to operate the Services, complete transactions you request, comply with legal obligations, or protect legal rights and safety.
Service providers
- Square. Square provides appointment scheduling, optional customer profiles or accounts, appointment communications, and payment-card processing. Square processes information according to its Privacy Notice for people who do not have a Square account and Buyer Features Privacy Notice.
- Hostinger. Hostinger hosts and delivers the website and may process technical, security, and server-log information.
- Google Tag Manager. Google Tag Manager loads and manages the Google Analytics tag.
- Google Analytics. Google Analytics provides basic website measurement. We do not intentionally send names, contact information, appointment details, or health information to Google Analytics.
- Google Maps. Google provides the fixed-location map displayed on the website and may receive the technical request information described in Section 1. Google processes it according to the Google Privacy Policy.
- Communication services. Email providers, mobile carriers, messaging services, and Square may process communications when you email or text the clinic or receive appointment-related messages.
Public reviews and testimonials
With separate authorization, we may reproduce a patient’s review using the reviewer’s first name and last initial and link to the original public review.
Services you choose to use
- Payment services. If you choose to make a payment through Venmo or Zelle, or receive a refund through Zelle, the payment service receives the information needed to process that transaction under its own privacy practices. These services do not receive information from ordinary website browsing.
- Linked documents. Some clinic documents may be hosted on Dropbox. If you open a Dropbox link, Dropbox may receive technical information about the request and process it under its own privacy policy.
Legal and safety disclosures
We may disclose personal information when required by law or when reasonably necessary to respond to valid legal process, protect someone’s safety, investigate wrongdoing, or protect our legal rights.
No sale or targeted advertising
We do not sell personal information or disclose it for cross-context behavioral advertising. The website does not use Meta Pixel, Google Ads remarketing, or Google Analytics Advertising Features.
4. Cookies and Analytics
The website uses cookies and similar technologies for basic website measurement.
We use Google Tag Manager to load and manage the Google Analytics tag. Google Analytics measures visits and basic interactions across clinic-owned public pages, including the main website, appointment landing page, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Cookie Policy. Analytics may also measure clicks leading to Square. Our Google Analytics configuration does not receive information entered into Square or information about the resulting appointment.
Google Analytics may process technical information such as browser and device type, pages viewed, traffic source, approximate geographic area, dates and times, and basic interaction events. We do not intentionally send names, contact information, appointment details, payment information, or health information to Google Analytics.
Google Analytics uses cookies to distinguish visits. User-level and event-level Analytics data is configured for fourteen months. This setting does not control the retention of standard aggregated reports.
We do not use Meta Pixel, Google Ads remarketing, Google Signals, or Google Analytics Advertising Features.
For more information, see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.
5. How Long Do We Keep Personal Information?
We retain personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and to satisfy applicable legal, accounting, tax, professional, and recordkeeping obligations.
The applicable period depends on the type of information, why it was collected, and any legal requirements governing it. Information processed independently by Square or other third-party services is retained according to those providers’ own policies.
6. How Do We Keep Personal Information Safe?
In Short: We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures.
We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk. You should only access the Services within a secure environment.
7. Information About Minors
The website is not directed to children under 13. Different Acupuncture may treat patients under 18, but a parent or legal guardian must be involved when personal information about a minor is submitted through the website or appointment system.
If you believe a minor submitted personal information without appropriate parent or guardian involvement, please contact us at tcmdyang@gmail.com.
8. Privacy Rights and Requests
Depending on applicable law, you may have the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information Different Acupuncture maintains about you. These rights may be limited by applicable clinical-record, legal, tax, accounting, security, or other recordkeeping requirements.
You may submit a privacy request:
- by email to tcmdyang@gmail.com; or
- by mail to 4000 Barranca Pkwy, Suite 250, Room 16, Irvine, CA 92604.
We may request information reasonably necessary to verify your identity or an authorized representative’s authority before responding.
Different Acupuncture will address information within its control, including information accessible through its Square account. Square may independently retain transaction, account, backup, security, or legally required records according to its own policies. Different Acupuncture cannot guarantee deletion from Square’s systems.
9. Browser Privacy Signals
Some browsers offer Do Not Track signals or Global Privacy Control.
Because there is no uniform standard requiring websites to respond to general Do Not Track signals, the website does not currently respond to them.
Global Privacy Control communicates a request to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. Because Different Acupuncture does not sell personal information or disclose it for cross-context behavioral advertising, a Global Privacy Control signal does not change our current practices.
10. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy when our practices, services, or legal obligations change. We will notify visitors of material changes by posting the updated Privacy Policy on this page and changing the effective date above.