The Law

HIPAA generally protects information shared between therapists and clients, establishing a legal protection of confidentiality in such mental health counseling. With very few exceptions, therapists can only discuss their client with others when the client has given their written permission. However, unless the healthtech product is considered a HIPAA-covered entity, such as a healthcare provider, plan, or insurer), it does not need to follow such privacy regulations or abide by other security and breach notice rules.

The Tech

In 2024, the digital mental or behavioral health market is projected to grow to $26.63 B, up 16.7% from the $20.25 B valuation in 2023. As a market both in and out of the technology spaces, mental health health-centered companies continue to grow with demand for such products and services. Apps like Headspace, which provides guided meditation, and Woebot, a wellness chatbot, provide digital counseling and related services. Beyond direct-to-consumer, a common way for users to access mental healthtech products is through channels from their employers, such as Calm’s Calm for Organizations, Spring Health, and more.

In 2023, the Federal Trade Commission published a report alleging that the digital counseling service BetterHelp pushed users into providing health information, then breaking privacy promises including disclosing the IP and email addresses of 5.6 million former visitors to Snapchat to target them with BetterHelp ads and similarly violated consumers’ trust by sharing the information of over 7 million users with platforms Facebook, Criterio, and Pinterest

Beyond user’s hesitant to embrace technology and A.I. in mental health about concerns that it lacks human compassion, privacy concerns about whether these products and services that collect large volumes of data about users suggest that there are risks related to linkability, detectability, and identifiability, as well as in third-party sharing, amongst such apps. Technology has the power to drastically expand Americans’ access to mental health services. To harness it for good, it is critical to understand the privacy policies of apps which collect, store, and potentially share your mental health data.