Who this policy covers
South Bridge Interpreting provides video medical interpreting and medical document translation to healthcare organizations in the United States. This policy explains how we handle personal information in two distinct roles.
When you visit this website or contact us about our services, we act on our own behalf and this policy governs that information. When we interpret an encounter or translate a document for a healthcare organization, we act as a business associate of that organization under HIPAA, and the health information involved is governed by our agreement with them and by their notice of privacy practices.
Interpreted encounters and protected health information
Everything said in an interpreted encounter is treated as confidential. Interpreters do not record sessions, do not take notes away from the encounter, and do not discuss what was said outside the care team present on the call.
We do not maintain a record of the clinical content of any session. Where an organization requires us to hold protected health information to deliver the service, we do so only under a signed business associate agreement, only for as long as that agreement requires, and only with the safeguards it specifies. We never use protected health information for marketing, training examples, case studies, or any purpose other than delivering the service requested.
Interpreters are bound by a professional code of ethics covering confidentiality, impartiality, accuracy, and role boundaries, in addition to their obligations under HIPAA.
Documents submitted for translation
Documents are handled only by the personnel assigned to the translation, are stored in access-controlled systems for the duration of the project, and are deleted on completion unless the client instructs otherwise or a legal obligation requires retention. Translated material is returned to the client and is not retained as reference material.
Information collected through this website
The public pages of this website work without accounts. The enquiry form does not transmit anything to our servers: when you submit it, your browser opens a prefilled message in your own email application, and nothing is sent unless you choose to send it.
We do not use analytics, advertising pixels, behavioral profiling, or marketing cookies. Our hosting provider processes standard technical server logs, including IP address, browser type, and requested pages, to deliver the site and protect it from abuse. These logs are not used to build profiles of visitors.
The interpreting console
Healthcare organizations, interpreters, and patients we work with use a separate signed-in console to schedule appointments, join calls, and view statements. Accounts are created by an administrator; there is no public sign-up.
Signing in sets a session cookie. It is strictly necessary to keep you signed in and to protect your account, it carries no advertising or analytics purpose, and it is removed when you sign out. The console also records security information such as sign-in times and IP address, so that unauthorized access can be detected and investigated.
Everything you do in the console that touches patient information is written to an audit record identifying who acted, what they did, and when. That record cannot be altered or deleted by anyone using the application, including us.
Video calls
Calls run on video infrastructure we operate ourselves, so the audio and video of an interpreted encounter are not handed to a third-party video vendor. Media passes through our servers only for as long as the call is connected and is never written to disk.
Sessions are not recorded. This is enforced technically rather than by policy: our software does not issue recording permission to any participant, and no recording component is deployed. As a result we also do not offer transcripts or live captions, because producing them would create a recording and involve another processor.
We keep a record that a call happened and who was connected when. That is what our billing is calculated from, and it is the evidence used to resolve a billing question. It contains no audio, video, or clinical content.
Payments
Statements are settled through Stripe, our payment processor. Stripe receives only what is needed to take a payment: the amount, an opaque reference to the appointment, and the payer’s billing contact details.
Stripe never receives patient names, clinical information, the language interpreted, or the identity of the clinic department involved. Our invoice lines are written in a fixed, detail-free format for exactly this reason, and the full breakdown is available only inside the console, behind sign-in.
Information you send us directly
When you email us or send an enquiry, we receive what you choose to include, typically your name, organization, email address, and a description of the interpreting or translation support you need. We use it to respond, to prepare a proposal, and to manage the resulting business relationship. We do not sell it, rent it, or share it for anyone else's marketing.
Please do not include patient names, medical record numbers, or other health information in a general enquiry. Those details belong in the encounter itself or in a channel covered by a business associate agreement.
Service providers
We rely on a small number of providers to operate: a server host, encrypted backup storage, an email provider for notifications, and a payment processor. Any provider that could encounter protected health information on our behalf is engaged under a business associate agreement.
Two providers are deliberately kept outside that boundary. Our payment processor receives no health information at all, as described above. Our email provider is used only to send notifications that carry no detail — they tell you that something is waiting and link you to the console, and never name a patient, a clinic, a language, or an appointment time. If you receive an email from us that contains such detail, it did not come from this system.
How long we keep information
Business enquiries and correspondence are kept while the enquiry is active and for as long afterward as is reasonably necessary for our records, then deleted. Contracts, invoices, and related records are kept for the periods required by tax and legal obligations. Information covered by a business associate agreement is retained and destroyed according to that agreement.
Security
This website is served over an encrypted connection. Access to business systems is limited to the people who need it and protected by strong authentication. Interpreters work from private settings where conversations cannot be overheard and join through our video platform rather than storing anything locally. No system can be guaranteed completely secure, and we will notify affected parties and, where applicable, regulators if a breach occurs.
Your choices and rights
You may ask what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it, and we will respond within a reasonable time. Requests about health information from an interpreted encounter should go to the healthcare organization that provided your care, as they control that record and we act only on their instructions.
You can opt out of any business correspondence from us at any time by replying and asking us to stop.
Children
This website is intended for healthcare organizations rather than the general public, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children through it. Interpreting for pediatric encounters is arranged by the healthcare organization and is covered by the section on interpreted encounters above.
Changes to this policy
We will update this policy if our practices change, and the date above will identify the current version. Material changes affecting existing clients will be communicated directly.
Contacting us
Questions about this policy, or a request about your own information, can be sent to southbridgeinterpreting@gmail.com. We answer privacy requests in the order received and will tell you if we need more information to identify your records.