SMS Messaging Terms Policy

Purpose and scope

Comfort Laser Center (“we,” “us,” or “our”) offers text messaging to communicate with patients, prospective patients, and authorized representatives. This policy covers SMS and MMS messages sent by us or by providers acting on our behalf. It explains enrollment, message types, charges, privacy precautions, and how to stop messages.

Our Website Privacy Policy explains related information practices. Where protected health information is involved, applicable healthcare privacy law and our Notice of Privacy Practices also govern. These terms do not waive your privacy or other legal rights.

Enrollment and consent

Text messaging is optional. Giving us a telephone number, requesting information, booking an appointment, or accepting a privacy policy does not by itself enroll you in recurring promotional texts. You must be the subscriber or customary user of the number, or otherwise have authority to consent for it.

For appointment and patient-service messages, we document your affirmative agreement through a website or written form, a supported enrollment process, or a request made to our staff. Enrollment disclosures identify Comfort Laser Center, the program, the number to be used, and any use of automated technology.

For recurring promotional messages, we require a separate affirmative written or electronic opt-in that authorizes Comfort Laser Center to send marketing texts, including texts using an automatic telephone dialing system or other automated technology. Service-message consent does not authorize marketing. Consent is not a condition of treatment, purchase, or access to our services. You may decline or withdraw it at any time.

We require fresh consent when a change in purpose or program requires it. SMS consent does not replace a separate HIPAA authorization when one is required for a use or disclosure of health information.

Messages you may receive

Depending on your consent and relationship with us, patient-service messages may include appointment confirmations and changes, arrival information, general preparation or follow-up reminders, requests to call the office, responses to your questions, and authorized administrative or account notices. We may direct sensitive or detailed discussions to a more appropriate channel.

Promotional messages may include special offers, events, and information about services, but only after the separate marketing opt-in described above. We do not add promotions to a service message to avoid marketing-consent requirements.

Message preferences and assistance

Frequency and charges

Message frequency varies with your appointments, requests, and enrolled programs. Enrollment disclosures will identify any program-specific frequency or limit. Comfort Laser Center does not charge a messaging fee; message and data rates may apply under your wireless plan.

We schedule routine outbound messages during reasonable recipient-local hours and observe applicable restrictions. Responses you request and time-sensitive care communications may follow a different schedule when lawful and appropriate.

How to stop messages

Reply STOP to any program text to opt out. We also accept QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, and other clear requests to stop. You may call 406-863-6100, email info@ComfortLaserCenter.com, or tell a staff member. You do not have to use a particular wording or explain your decision.

Under our policy, an unqualified stop request applies to all recurring automated texts from Comfort Laser Center. A request expressly limited to a category will be honored to that extent when the platform supports it and applicable law permits. A marketing opt-out stops all Comfort Laser Center promotional text campaigns. If the scope cannot be safely determined, we suspend recurring automated texts while resolving it.

We process requests promptly. Automated STOP requests are suppressed immediately where the platform supports them; other requests are handled as soon as practicable and no later than the applicable legal deadline. We may send one nonpromotional confirmation. You do not need to respond to that confirmation for the opt-out to take effect.

Stopping texts does not cancel an appointment or treatment. Call the office to change your appointment. We may communicate through another method only when lawful and consistent with your preferences and any required consent.

Rejoining a program

After opting out, contact us or use a supported enrollment process to request re-enrollment. We will obtain and record the consent required for that program before restarting messages. A START reply may begin that process, but an unrelated incoming text, a telephone inquiry, or silence does not by itself restore promotional consent.

Help and delivery

Reply HELP or contact 406-863-6100 or info@ComfortLaserCenter.com for assistance. Staff respond during clinic business hours; text messages are not monitored continuously.

Wireless carriers and messaging services may delay, block, or fail to deliver messages. Delivery is not guaranteed, and important care or scheduling decisions should not depend on a text being received. These terms do not exclude any responsibility that applicable law does not allow us to exclude.

Privacy and safe communication

Protecting your information

Standard SMS and MMS are not guaranteed to be encrypted or private. Messages may appear on device screens, be retained by carriers or backups, or be seen by people with access to your telephone. Even a message identifying our clinic may reveal a care relationship. You may request a reasonable alternative communication method.

Do not send payment credentials, government identification numbers, passwords, detailed medical histories, sensitive photographs, or information about another person through ordinary text messages. Call us to arrange a suitable method. We limit message content and use safeguards appropriate to the information and the communication.

Information used for the program

We may maintain your name, telephone number, preferences, consent evidence, message content, and delivery, help, and opt-out records. We use this information to provide requested communications, support care and administration, protect the service, honor preferences, and meet recordkeeping and legal obligations. Clinically relevant communications may become part of the patient record.

We do not sell or rent mobile numbers or SMS opt-in and consent records, or disclose them to third parties or affiliates for their independent marketing. Necessary disclosures to contracted messaging, technology, and telecommunications providers support our program. Disclosures required by law remain subject to applicable privacy protections.

We retain information only as reasonably necessary for its purpose, applicable recordkeeping duties, and legitimate legal needs. Limited suppression records may be retained to prevent unwanted messages after an opt-out. Further privacy practices and request procedures appear in our Website Privacy Policy and, where applicable, our Notice of Privacy Practices.

Number changes and representatives

Notify us promptly if your number changes, is disconnected, becomes shared, or is no longer under your control. If a message is intended for someone else, do not forward or disclose it; reply STOP and notify the clinic.

The promotional program is intended for adults. A person consenting for another individual must have the necessary legal authority. We may verify authority. We accommodate reasonable confidential communication requests as required by applicable law.

Urgent concerns

Do not use text messaging for emergencies or urgent medical decisions. Call 911 for a medical emergency. For an urgent post-procedure concern, call 406-863-6100 and follow the clinic’s after-hours instructions. Texts do not replace professional assessment or treatment.

Changes and contact

We post revisions with an updated revision date and provide additional notice or obtain fresh consent when required. A policy change does not itself expand your messaging consent.

Comfort Laser Center | Attention Privacy Requests
150 Timberwolf Parkway, Suite B, Kalispell, MT 59901
406-863-6100 | info@ComfortLaserCenter.com
https://ComfortLaserCenter.com