Merry Chrysler

Do you remember Vine? The pre-TikTok video-based social media platform? Every Christmas, I always think about one specific Vine (which has helpfully been re-uploaded to YouTube): Merry Chrysler. I can't explain why I find it so funny. But I love it.

As we were planning our annual Christmas campaign at Freshpaint, I pitched a redo of that Vine, but was quickly shut down. My boss actually kicked me out of a Zoom meeting for suggesting it. Tough crowd.

So what are we doing for Christmas?

Santa’s Naughty or Nice Web Tracker List!

Santa’s sleigh is making a stop at your website! He’s checking if your tracking technologies are HIPAA-compliant. Risky, non-compliant trackers? Naughty List. Privacy-friendly, compliant trackers? Nice List. Be one of the first 10 to check your trackers and receive a special gift from Santa!

🎅 Check Your Trackers Now 🎁

Here's what else I've got for you today:

Bot blockers!
The latest Meta news
A lawsuit settlement

Let's dive in...

Product Update

Bots can be a real problem for all websites -- including healthcare websites. They essentially inflate your traffic and event data, sometimes by the thousands which can completely throw off your marketing metrics.

When you rely on those metrics for dialing in your marketing and reporting to leadership, it can be hard to trust what you see when bots infiltrate your data.

That's why we've built Bot Blocker. Bot Blocker classifies bot traffic based on user agents, and if a known bot generated an event, it is flagged as such. Depending on the account flags, this known bot traffic can be blocked from going to destinations.

It's just another way we're arming healthcare marketers with the most accurate, useful data to optimize performance.

If you want to learn more about Bot Blocker, contact your Freshpaint Account Manager!

Freshpaint's Compliant Corner

We've talked about Meta's data restrictions a lot in the past few weeks in this newsletter...and we're not stopping now because we just keep uncovering new info. Here's what we've learned this week:

Meta’s motive? CYA

Meta is responding to mounting lawsuits, like those involving improper Pixel usage in healthcare.
New state privacy laws (like Washington’s My Health My Data Act) are creating regulatory pressure.
Public sentiment around data privacy is heating up, and Meta’s trying to avoid becoming the next headline.

How Meta is categorizing healthcare businesses.

Meta is grouping healthcare organizations into a broad category like "Health & Wellness." From there, you’ll get further grouped into a subcategory such as “Provider” or “Patient Portal.”
If Meta thinks you’re sharing data from a logged-in patient portal, you’ll be classified as a "Patient Portal" -- the most restricted subcategory.

Which events are restricted?

Lower-funnel events like Schedule and Find Location are likely targets.
Custom events are still allowed but come with strict rules. You’ll need to register and approve custom events and avoid making them mirror standard event types.

Meta’s new stance on compliance: It’s on you.

Meta used to say, “Don’t send PHI.” Now they’re saying, “We’re going to block you from tracking by default unless you prove you’re compliant.”
This forces healthcare marketers to be more proactive in controlling what they send back to Meta.

We've got a full write up of the restrictions (and what to do about them) here: Meta’s New Data Restrictions for Healthcare: What We Know So Far

Industry News

Healthcare data privacy isn't going anywhere. Mount Nittany Health is the latest healthcare organization to get hit with a financial settlement as a result of their data sharing practices.

The organization has agreed to pay $1.8 million to resolve a class action lawsuit that alleged sensitive patient data was shared with Meta, Google, and other third parties.

According to the lawsuit, around 74,000 patients had their data impermissibly shared with those third parties.

Get the full story: Mount Nittany Health Agrees $1.8 Million Settlement for Using Website Tracking Technologies

Thanks for reading, see you next week!

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