National Privacy Day: A Data Privacy Check-In for Digital Health and Wellness Companies
January 28th is National Privacy Day in the United States and Canada—and International Data Protection Day globally. It’s a timely reminder for digital health and wellness companies to pause and ask a simple but critical question:
Are our privacy practices actually keeping pace with what our technology is doing today?
For companies building telehealth platforms, RPM and RTM tools, AI-enabled clinical decision support, consumer wellness apps, and next-generation health devices, privacy is not just a compliance obligation. It is a core component of trust, scalability, investor confidence, and long-term business resilience.
And with privacy regulation evolving rapidly at both the state and federal levels, this is a moment worth using as a strategic reset.
Privacy Is Bigger Than HIPAA Now
Many companies still treat privacy as a “HIPAA issue.” But for much of the digital health ecosystem, the reality is more complex.
Digital health products increasingly sit at the intersection of:
HIPAA-covered data flows
Consumer health data regulated by state privacy laws
Website tracking and behavioral advertising scrutiny
AI governance and secondary data use risks
FDA cybersecurity expectations for connected devices
The result is that privacy compliance is no longer siloed—it is operational.
A National Privacy Day To-Do List
National Privacy Day is a good prompt to conduct a quick internal audit. Not a months-long overhaul, just a clear-eyed review of whether your documentation matches reality. Here are a few starting points:
1. Does Your Privacy Policy Reflect What You Actually Collect?
If your product has added new features, integrations, SDKs, or analytics tools, ask:
Have we updated our disclosures accordingly?
Do we fully understand what our vendors are collecting through our platform?
Would a regulator (or customer) be surprised by anything happening behind the scenes?
2. Do You Know Which Laws Apply to You Right Now?
Digital health companies often operate across multiple regulatory categories at once. Are you confident your compliance framework meets the requirements under all the laws that apply to you?
HIPAA
State consumer privacy laws
New consumer health data statutes
FTC enforcement trends
International requirements for global platforms
3. Are Your Vendor Agreements Still Aligned With Your Data Flows?
Business Associate Agreements and vendor terms should match how PHI or sensitive health data is actually used today. Ask yourself:
Do we have agreements in place for every party that touches sensitive health data?
Do our contracts reflect the realities of AI, analytics, and subcontracting?
Are we over-relying on outdated templates?
4. If You Use AI, Have You Answered the Hard Questions?
AI introduces privacy risk quickly, especially when data is repurposed. Digital health companies should be asking:
Where does our training data come from?
Are we using customer or patient data in ways they do not expect?
Can we explain and defend our model governance if challenged?
5. Are You Treating Cybersecurity as a Privacy Obligation?
For connected devices and regulated software, cybersecurity is inseparable from privacy. With FDA attention continuing to grow in this area:
Do we meet current premarket cybersecurity expectations?
Do we have a postmarket vulnerability monitoring plan?
Are privacy and security teams working from the same playbook?
Questions Every Digital Health Leader Should Be Asking
On National Privacy Day, consider a few broader strategic questions:
If we had to explain our data practices to a patient in plain English, could we?
Would our current privacy documentation survive a diligence review by a payer or investor?
Are we building privacy into the product—or layering it on after launch?
Are we prepared for the next wave of state consumer health enforcement?
Do our teams actually understand what data is being collected, shared, or inferred?
These are not just legal questions. They are business questions that can set you up for long-term success or future headaches.
Call to Action
Privacy is no longer just a compliance box. It is a growth issue, a trust issue, and increasingly an enforcement issue.
Nixon Law Group works with digital health, healthcare AI, medical device, and wellness innovators to design privacy and data governance frameworks that scale with product growth and withstand evolving regulatory scrutiny.
If your privacy policies, vendor agreements, or data governance practices have not been reviewed recently, now is the time. Contact us to learn how we can support your next privacy and security check-in.