Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 8, 2025

Who We Are

Clear Water Recovery is a residential substance-use treatment provider dedicated to protecting your privacy and securing your personal and health information.

Information We Collect

Comments
When visitors leave comments on our blog or news posts, we collect the data you enter (name, email address, website) as well as your IP address and browser user-agent string to help with spam detection. We may send an anonymized hash of your email to Gravatar to see if you have an avatar—Gravatar’s privacy policy is at https://automattic.com/privacy/. Once your comment is approved, your profile picture (if you have one) appears publicly alongside your comment.

Media
If you upload images to our site (for example, as part of a guest post), please remove any embedded location data (EXIF GPS) before uploading. Visitors can download images and extract embedded data.

Cookies & Tracking Technologies
We use cookies to improve your experience and for analytics:

  • For comments: you may opt-in to save your name, email, and website in cookies for up to one year.

  • On our login pages (staff only): a temporary cookie checks if your browser accepts cookies; login cookies remember backend logins for two days (or two weeks if “Remember Me” is selected); screen-options cookies last one year; and a one-day cookie marks post edits.

  • You can clear or block cookies via your browser settings, though some features may not work properly.

Embedded Content from Other Sites
Articles on our site may include embedded content (videos, images, articles, etc.). This content behaves as if you visited the other website directly—those sites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed tracking, and monitor your interactions if you are logged in to them.

Contact, Intake & Referral Forms
When you use our contact, intake, or referral forms, we collect personal and health-related information such as your name, email, phone number, insurance details, medical history, and substance-use history. Any Protected Health Information (PHI) you provide is handled under HIPAA standards.

Analytics & Advertising Tools
We employ third-party tools to understand site usage and ad effectiveness:

How We Use Your Information

We use your data to:

  • Display and moderate comments and reduce spam.

  • Respond to inquiries and coordinate treatment referrals.

  • Analyze website traffic and measure ad performance.

  • Remember your preferences via cookies.
    All analytics data is anonymized and used only in aggregate.

HIPAA & Protected Health Information

Clear Water Recovery is a HIPAA-covered entity. We treat all PHI you submit as confidential:

  • Use & Disclosure: PHI is used solely for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, or as required by law.

  • Minimum Necessary: We limit PHI disclosures to the minimum needed for each purpose.

  • Business Associates: We share PHI only with service providers (e.g., EHR vendor, billing service) under signed Business Associate Agreements requiring HIPAA compliance.

  • Your HIPAA Rights: You may access, amend, and request an accounting of disclosures of your PHI. You can also request restrictions on certain uses and receive breach notifications.

Data Sharing & Disclosure

We do not sell or rent your data. We may share data when required by:

  • Law enforcement or legal process (e.g., subpoenas, court orders).

  • Health and safety obligations (e.g., mandatory reporting of abuse or communicable diseases).

  • Business associates under HIPAA.

Data Retention

  • Comments & Metadata: Retained indefinitely to streamline comment moderation.

  • Form Data & PHI: Stored securely in our EHR system for as long as needed for treatment and as required by state law (typically 7–10 years post-discharge).

  • Cookies: As described above.

  • Analytics: Aggregated and anonymized; individual identifiers purged after 26 months (default Google Analytics retention).

Your Rights Over Your Data

Under HIPAA, you have the right to:

  • Access & Copy: Receive your PHI in electronic or paper form.

  • Amend: Request corrections to inaccurate PHI.

  • Accounting of Disclosures: Obtain a list of PHI disclosures in the past six years.

  • Restrictions & Confidential Communications: Ask us not to share PHI for treatment, payment, or operations; we’ll honor reasonable requests.

  • Breach Notification: Be informed if your unsecured PHI is compromised.

Under other privacy laws, you may:

  • Access/Download: Request a copy of any personal data we hold (comments, form entries).

  • Deletion: Ask us to erase personal data, except what we must retain for legal or security reasons.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Privacy Officer (see below).

Data Security & Contact Information

We protect your data with:

  • HTTPS encryption and secure database storage.

  • Access controls, audit logging, and regular security reviews.

  • Staff training on privacy and security.

Privacy Officer / HIPAA Coordinator
Clear Water Recovery
Email: privacy@clwrecovery.com
Phone: +1 (443) 571-9174
Address: 631 N Fulton Ave, Baltimore, MD 21217

Where Your Data Is Sent

  • Spam Detection: Visitor comments may be checked via an automated service (e.g., Akismet).

  • Gravatar: Anonymized email hashes may be sent to Gravatar to retrieve avatars.

  • Analytics & Ads: Data shared with Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel under their privacy terms (non-PHI only).

  • Business Associates: PHI shared with EHR and billing partners under HIPAA BAAs.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this policy periodically; changes will be noted by the date at the top. Continued use of our site after updates signifies your acceptance.

By visiting Clear Water Recovery website, you agree to this Privacy Policy.
If you have questions or wish to exercise your data rights, please contact our Privacy Officer.