We explore the growing wave of class action lawsuits hitting the telehealth industry—and why legal counsel, especially those advising telemedicine platforms or navigating pharma partnerships, must pay attention now.
Here’s the core issue: many ad tech stacks are leaking protected health information (PHI) through tracking pixels and cookies. These tools—common in e-commerce—are transmitting sensitive data to third parties like Meta, potentially without proper consent. That’s not a glitch; it’s a design feature—and it may violate HIPAA, the FTC Act, CCPA, and state consumer protection laws.
Key Legal Risks:
- Tracking pixels may result in unauthorized PHI disclosures.
- “Anonymized” data isn’t safe—reidentification is easier than ever.
- Partnering with pharma introduces a regulatory maze: HIPAA, FTC, FDA promotional rules, and anti-kickback statutes may all apply—and risks compound, they don’t cancel out.
- A simple ad campaign could result in kickback concerns, promotional violations, or privacy breaches.
What Legal Counsel Should Do:
- Audit your tech stack—what tools are collecting what data, and where does it go?
- Revisit consent practices—is the user aware of what’s being shared?
- Separate clinical from commercial functions—these are legal firewalls.
- Update your data sharing contracts—HIPAA, indemnification, audit rights, reuse clauses.
- Retrain marketing teams—even one tag can trigger legal liability.
Real-World Consequences:
- OCR penalties, FTC consent decrees, and civil suits for emotional distress and privacy violations.
- Reputational damage, loss of investor confidence, and pharma partners pulling back.
At The Kulkarni Law Firm, we help telehealth platforms and FDA-regulated companies identify and mitigate these risks before they explode. From privacy reviews to marketing compliance and risk assessments, we’re here to help.
Ask yourself:
- Are you using ad pixels?
- Do your legal and marketing teams actually talk?
- Are you ready to explain, under subpoena, who got patient data—and why?
If this episode made you rethink your stack—or your strategy—share it with your team.
Get in touch with us if you have any questions.
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