Privacy Policy

Application: Bearny – Be Ready After Rehabilitation
Operator: ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern
Website: https://reha-advisor.ch
Effective Date: May 9, 2025
Last Updated: June 16, 2026

This web application is operated for research and clinical telerehabilitation purposes. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring transparency in how your data is used.

1. Data Collection

We collect only the information necessary for research and rehabilitation care, such as:

• Basic demographic data (e.g., age, sex, education)
• Your responses to research-related questionnaires or activities
• Technical logs to maintain system integrity (e.g., IP address, device type)
• Wearable health data collected via connected third-party services (see Section 7)

We do not collect personal identifiers such as names, addresses, or financial data unless explicitly requested and consented to.

2. Use of Data

Collected data is used solely for research, academic analysis, and direct patient care within the Bearny digital platform. It will not be sold, rented, or shared for marketing purposes. All data is anonymized or pseudonymized before analysis where feasible.

3. Data Storage

Data is stored securely on servers located in Switzerland, in compliance with ethical research standards and applicable Swiss and European data protection law. Access is limited to authorized research and clinical personnel only.

4. Consent

By using this application, you provide your informed consent to the collection and use of data as described in this policy. If you do not agree, please do not continue to use the application.

5. Your Rights

You may:

• Request to view the data you provided
• Withdraw from the study at any time
• Request deletion of your data (where identifiable)
• Revoke access to third-party connected services (e.g., Google Health) at any time

To exercise any of these rights, contact the research team through the contact form or email listed in the app.

6. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as needed to reflect legal or methodological changes. Any updates will be posted within the application and on this page.

7. Google Health & Fitness API Data

Bearny integrates with the Google Fit / Google Health REST API to collect wearable health metrics for rehabilitation monitoring. This section explains how we handle data obtained through Google APIs.

Scopes requested and their purpose:

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/fitness.activity.read — Provides daily step count, walking distance, calories burned, and active minutes. Used to track whether the patient is meeting their prescribed movement goals during rehabilitation.
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/fitness.heart_rate.read — Provides resting heart rate and time spent in heart rate zones (fat-burn, cardio, peak). Used by the physiotherapist to verify that the patient is exercising at the correct intensity as specified in their rehabilitation plan.
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/fitness.sleep.read — Provides sleep duration, time actually asleep, and number of awakenings. Sleep quality is a key recovery indicator in post-surgical rehabilitation.
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/fitness.body.read — Provides body weight data. Tracked alongside other health metrics where clinically relevant to the patient's rehabilitation outcome.
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/fitness.oxygen_saturation.read — Provides blood oxygen saturation (SpO2). For patients recovering from cardiopulmonary conditions, SpO2 is an important safety and recovery metric.
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/fitness.body_temperature.read — Provides skin temperature data. Elevated temperature can be an early indicator of post-operative infection or inflammation.

How Google Health data is used:

• Data is displayed on the Bearny health dashboard and is accessible only to the patient and their assigned physiotherapist.
• Aggregated, anonymised data may be used for research analysis as part of approved clinical studies.
• Bearny accesses Google Health data in read-only mode — we never write, modify, or delete data in your Google account.

Data protection commitments for Google Health data:

• Google Health data is not sold, rented, transferred, or shared with any third party for any purpose other than direct patient care and approved research.
• Google Health data is not used for advertising or any commercial purposes.
• Data is stored on servers located in Switzerland and is subject to the same access controls as all other Bearny data.
• We only store the minimum data necessary to provide the rehabilitation monitoring feature.
• Bearny's use of Google API data is limited to the purposes described in this policy and does not extend to any use prohibited by the Google API Services User Data Policy.

Revoking Google Health access:

You can revoke Bearny's access to your Google Health data at any time by visiting your Google Account permissions page and removing Bearny from the list of connected apps. You may also contact us directly to request deletion of any Google Health data stored in Bearny.