Healthcare providers trust the National Clinician Consultation Center (NCCC) with sensitive clinical questions every day. Protecting the privacy of our users and being transparent about how information is collected, used, and shared are fundamental to that trust.

The NCCC, operated by the Goldschmidt Collective at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), is committed to safeguarding the information entrusted to us. This Privacy and Data Use Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, how we protect it, when it may be shared, and the choices available to our users.

Our Commitment to Your Privacy

• Your clinical questions are confidential.
• NCCC does not collect or maintain protected health information (PHI) about patients. Please do not provide patient names or other direct patient identifiers when contacting us.
• You will never be denied NCCC services because of your privacy choices.
• Your information is stored in secure systems that are accessible only to authorized NCCC personnel and, where applicable, authorized UCSF personnel supporting NCCC educational programs.
• The way NCCC protects your information has not changed. Recent federal reporting requirements affect how certain information is reported to our federal funder, not how your information is collected, protected, or used to provide NCCC services.
• If you choose not to share identifiable information for federal reporting, NCCC uses a program-generated random unique identifier instead that does not include information that could be used to infer your name or identify.
• Healthcare providers or other individuals calling the PEPline regarding their own occupational exposures remain anonymous.

How This Policy Applies

This Privacy and Data Use Policy applies whenever you interact with the NCCC, including when you:

• Call our clinical consultation services.
• Submit a consultation request through our secure online consultation portal.
• Use the NCCC website chatbot.
• Complete a caller experience survey.
• Apply for or participate in an NCCC educational program, such as a preceptorship.
• Visit the NCCC website.

Consultation Services

Healthcare professionals may contact the NCCC by telephone, through our secure online consultation portal, or by using our website chatbot.

Information collected through these services helps us:

• Provide timely, evidence-informed, case-based clinical guidance.
• Follow up on consultations when requested or clinically appropriate.
• Evaluate and improve the quality of our services.
• Meet applicable federal reporting requirements.

Information We Collect

Depending on the service used, we may request information such as:

• Name
• Email address
• ZIP code
• Professional role and specialty
• Practice setting or facility type
• Professional experience
• Information related to your clinical question

NCCC also asks certain demographic questions as part of our federal funding requirements. Responding to these questions is voluntary.

Patient Information

NCCC provides case-based clinical education and consultation to healthcare professionals. We do not collect or maintain protected health information (PHI) about patients. To protect patient privacy, healthcare providers should not provide patient names or other direct patient identifiers when contacting the NCCC.

PEPline Occupational Exposure Calls

Healthcare providers or any individual who contacts the PEPline regarding their own occupational exposures are not asked to provide identifying information. These calls are managed anonymously.

Quality Improvement and Evaluation

To ensure that NCCC continues to provide high-quality services, we periodically conduct follow-up activities and caller experience surveys.

Participation in follow-up activities and surveys is voluntary.

Information collected through these activities helps us:

• Improve our educational services.
• Evaluate program effectiveness.
• Meet federal reporting requirements.

Comments and feedback submitted through surveys may be used in reports, presentations, grant applications, or promotional materials. Any comments/service feedback shared publicly are de-identified and attributed only to the NCCC service used (for example, HIV, Perinatal HIV, PEP, PrEP, Substance Use, or Hepatitis C).

Educational Programs

NCCC offers educational opportunities, including clinical preceptorships.

Information collected through applications and program evaluations is used to:

• Administer educational programs.
• Communicate with applicants and participants.
• Evaluate program effectiveness.
• Support quality improvement activities.

Application and evaluation information is maintained in secure university-managed systems with access limited to authorized personnel.

Personal identifying application information is not reported to funders.

Quantitative and qualitative feedback used in reports, presentations, or promotional materials is de-identified so that participants cannot be identified.

Website Analytics

The NCCC website uses Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand how visitors use our website and identify opportunities to improve its content and functionality.

Analytics information may include:

• Pages visited
• Time spent on the website
• Browser and device type
• General geographic location (city or region)
• Referring websites or search engines

This information is analyzed in aggregate. NCCC does not use Google Analytics for advertising or marketing purposes.

You may manage cookies through your web browser settings.

Federal Reporting Requirements

NCCC is funded in part by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As a condition of this funding, HRSA requires certain reporting about how federally funded programs are used.

Why is this changing?

For many years, NCCC has collected information about the healthcare professionals who use our services to support clinical operations, quality improvement, program evaluation, and required federal reporting. Historically, NCCC reported this information to HRSA only in aggregate.

Beginning in 2026, HRSA implemented new reporting requirements for Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part F workforce development programs that require individual-level reporting.

The purpose of these requirements is to help HRSA better understand participation across Ryan White-supported workforce development programs and evaluate the reach and impact of federally funded educational services.

Although NCCC submits required reports to HRSA, HRSA does not have direct access to the NCCC database or individual user records.

Your Options

NCCC will ask whether you would like to allow your identifiable information to be shared with HRSA.

The program-generated unique identifier allows HRSA to understand participation over time without receiving information that directly identifies you.

Choosing not to opt in will never affect your ability to receive NCCC services.

Your Choices

You may:

• Choose whether to allow your identifiable information to be reported to HRSA.
• Decline to answer voluntary demographic questions.
• Decline participation in follow-up activities or surveys.
• Receive NCCC services regardless of your decision to opt in or opt out.

If NCCC does not obtain your opt-in preference, your information is automatically treated as opted out, and no direct identifying information is reported to HRSA.

Questions or Concerns About Your Privacy?

If you have questions about this Privacy and Data Use Policy or how NCCC protects and uses your information, please contact Brenda Goldhammer, NCCC Program Director, goldhammerb@ucsf.edu.