These terms are an agreement between you and SWONKDOG ("SWONKDOG", "we", "us"), about the SWONKDOG platform: this website, the online intake, the patient portal, the partner portal and the services provided through them (together, the "Service"). Part A applies to everyone. Part B applies to partners, the businesses that offer programs to their patients through the Service. Part C applies to patients, the people who complete an intake that SWONKDOG runs for a partner. By using the Service you agree to the parts that apply to you. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
Part A. Everyone
1. What SWONKDOG is, and is not
SWONKDOG is a technology company. It is not a medical provider, a pharmacy or a laboratory. It doesn't employ or direct clinicians, and its support team doesn't give medical advice. Partners offer treatment programs and at-home lab testing to their patients under the partner's own name. SWONKDOG operates the technology behind them: the intake, the review queue, the connection to licensed US pharmacies and to a CLIA-certified laboratory, messaging, record keeping, payments and statements.
Clinical care is provided by licensed clinicians affiliated with independent physician groups, who exercise their own judgment. No one at SWONKDOG, and no partner, directs a clinician's decision, and physician groups are paid the same for every review whatever the decision. Pharmacies and laboratories are independent, licensed businesses.
The Service is not for emergencies. If you believe you or someone else is having a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
2. Privacy
How we collect, use, protect and share information, including health information under HIPAA, is described in our privacy and HIPAA notice, which is part of these terms.
3. Acceptable use
Do not use the Service to obtain medication for someone else or for resale, to provide false information, to interfere with the Service or with other people's accounts, to copy or scrape it, or in any way that breaks the law. We may suspend or close an account that does.
4. Intellectual property
The Service, its software and content, and the SWONKDOG name and marks belong to SWONKDOG or its licensors. Partners keep the rights to their own names, marks and content, and give us a license to display them within the Service on their behalf.
5. Disclaimers and limits on liability
The Service is provided as it is. To the extent the law allows, SWONKDOG disclaims warranties of any kind about the Service and is not liable for the professional acts or omissions of independent clinicians or pharmacies, or for a partner's own products, store, marketing or conduct. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence.
To the extent the law allows, SWONKDOG's total liability to you for any claim arising from the Service is limited to the amount you paid SWONKDOG in the twelve months before the claim.
6. Disputes
If you have a complaint, contact us first at support@swonkdog.co and give us a fair chance to resolve it. These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware and the United States, without regard to conflict of law rules.
7. Changes
We may update these terms. When we do, the effective date above changes, and material changes are announced in the portals or by email before they take effect. Continuing to use the Service after that means you accept the new terms.
8. Contact
SWONKDOG. 1521 Concord Pike, Ste 301, Wilmington, DE 19803. support@swonkdog.co. (858) 333-6682.
Part B. Partners
9. Becoming a partner
A partner is a business that has signed a partner agreement with SWONKDOG and has been given an organization on the Service. The signed agreement governs where it says something different from these terms. You must give accurate business information and keep it current, and you must comply with the laws that apply to your business, including the rules on advertising, health claims and the relationship between businesses and licensed clinicians in each state where you operate.
10. Your brand and your patients
You choose which programs to offer and the retail prices your patients see. Your name is what the patient sees on the intake and in the patient portal. Your patients are your customers for everything about your store, your prices and your marketing, and you answer their questions about those. SWONKDOG support answers questions about accounts, technical issues and billing. Refunds are issued from your account under your own refund policy, which must meet the minimum rules on the refunds and cancellations page.
11. Clinical independence
Treatment decisions are made only by licensed clinicians. You may not see a decision before it is made, influence it, offer a clinician anything for a particular outcome, or promise a patient a prescription. Your staff may not give medical advice through or about the Service. Prescriptions go from the clinician to a licensed pharmacy and never pass through you.
12. Money
Your patients pay into your own account at the payment processor, which you open from your settings. The platform holds the patient's card when a visit is submitted and charges it only when a clinician approves.
You pay SWONKDOG a platform fee for its technology: a flat fee per reviewed visit, approved or declined, because the review took place, plus the fixed cost of each approved product and shipping at the pharmacy's rate, as set on your price sheet. These are fees for the use of the platform and its logistics, not a share of any prescription or a resale of medication. They are taken from your account the moment the clinician decides, and your statement lists every visit and every line. Where the processor cannot take a fee, it is invoiced. Question a statement within 30 days of receiving it.
Where your own system sends us an order it sold (through the Connect API or an electronic health record), the same fees apply, and a refund a clinician's decision makes necessary is yours to make; your portal shows what is owed.
13. Data
You see your own patients and orders and nobody else's. Keep your sign in details private and use the authenticator app the Service requires. Use patient information only to support the patient's order and to meet your legal duties, never for anything else, and never sell it. A business associate agreement between you and SWONKDOG is part of every partner agreement.
14. Term and ending
Either side may end the partnership with the notice in the partner agreement. We may suspend or end it sooner for a breach of these terms, an unpaid statement, or a legal or safety risk. Orders in progress are finished, statements are settled, and records are kept for as long as the law requires.
Part C. Patients
15. Who may use the intake
- You must be at least 18 years old.
- You must be physically located in a US state where a clinician licensed in that state is available for the program you are seeking. The intake checks this before you enter health information.
- You must provide accurate, complete and current information, including a valid government photo ID, and update it if it changes. Treatment decisions rely on what you tell us; incomplete or false information can harm you and ends your right to use the Service.
- You may only complete an intake for yourself.
16. No guarantee of treatment
Submitting a visit is a request for a clinical review, not a purchase of medication. A clinician may approve your request, ask you for more information, recommend a different treatment, or decline. A decline is a clinical decision, and a declined visit costs you nothing.
17. Payment
The clinic or brand you started with is the merchant: your card is charged to its account at the payment processor, through SWONKDOG's technology. SWONKDOG is paid a platform fee by the clinic or brand.
When you submit a visit you authorize a hold on your card for the price shown. The card is charged only when a clinician approves your treatment. If the clinician declines, or you withdraw before a decision, the hold is released and nothing is charged. Prices include the clinical review, the medication and supplies or the lab kit, standard shipping, and any taxes shown before you confirm. If your plan renews, it renews at the price shown unless you cancel before the renewal, and we remind you before each renewal.
If the clinic or brand you started with sold you the program on its own store and sent the order to the platform, that clinic or brand charged you under its own terms, and refunds come from it.
Refunds and cancellations are described in our refund and cancellation policy, which is part of these terms.
18. Prescriptions and medication
Any prescription is written by the reviewing clinician and sent by the clinician to a licensed pharmacy, which dispenses and ships it. Some medications are compounded: prepared by a licensed compounding pharmacy for you individually. Compounded medications are not reviewed by the FDA for safety or effectiveness. The clinician tells you when a compounded medication is being considered, and you are asked to acknowledge that before it is prescribed.
Medication is prescribed only where federal and state law allow, only after an evaluation by a licensed clinician that meets those laws, and never without one. Use medication only as prescribed and only for yourself.
18a. Lab tests
An at-home lab test is ordered by a licensed clinician. A collection kit is shipped to you; you collect a small sample as the kit instructs and mail it back prepaid; a CLIA-certified laboratory runs the test. Results support a clinician's decision and do not diagnose on their own. A clinician reads your results and writes you a note before the values appear in your portal. Refunds for kits are in the refund and cancellation policy.
19. Your account and the patient portal
Keep your sign in details private. You are responsible for activity under your account. Tell us at once at support@swonkdog.co if you think someone else has used it. Messages to the clinician are read during business hours and are not monitored continuously. Do not use messaging for anything urgent. Side effects and medical questions go to your clinician by message in the portal; you may also report side effects to the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088. In an emergency, call 911.
20. Telehealth consent
Telehealth has limits. A clinician reviewing you online cannot examine you in person, and some conditions cannot be treated this way. Technology can fail, and there is a small risk that electronic communication is delayed or intercepted despite the safeguards we use. You are asked to give informed consent to telehealth during the intake, and you may withdraw it at any time by stopping the visit or by contacting us.