How research contribution works

Most health research runs on data written by clinicians, for billing and documentation. Almost nothing captures what the visit actually sounded like: what the patient asked, what worried them, what was explained and what was not, and what happened next.

That gap is why so much care is designed around the average patient rather than the real one. The de-identified record of a real conversation, followed over time, is genuinely valuable — and it is what funds a free patient tool instead of an ad-supported one.

Contribution is a condition of using Narrativ Heal, not an optional setting. We ask you to acknowledge this explicitly when you set up your account, and it is stated on the pricing page, in the terms, and in Settings.

If you are not comfortable with it, the honest answer is that Narrativ Heal is not the right tool for you. You can delete your account and identified record at any time.

• Your name and anyone else's name, including your providers'.
• Email addresses, phone numbers, and postal addresses.
• Your date of birth — replaced with a broad age band.
• Medical record numbers, insurance identifiers, and account identifiers.
• Specific clinic, hospital, and practice names, and precise locations.
• Exact dates — kept only as relative timing where it is clinically meaningful.
• Identifying detail inside free text, generalised rather than copied through.

Every de-identified copy is risk-scored before it is stored. Copies that still read as potentially identifying are flagged rather than released.

No name. No provider. No clinic. No dates. Useful to a researcher studying treatment response; not traceable back to a person.

• Your identified record — your visits as you see them, with names, dates, and providers intact.
• Your patient narrative and clinician briefs, unless you personally share them.
• Your account details and record sources.
• Raw audio.

De-identified records are licensed to research organisations — academic groups, health services researchers, and life sciences research teams. Every licensee is under contract, and every contract requires that they:

• Never attempt to re-identify any individual, by any means.
• Never combine the data with other datasets for the purpose of re-identification.
• Never resell or redistribute the dataset.
• Use it only for the research purpose stated in their agreement.
• Report any suspected re-identification to us immediately.

We do not license identified data. There is no tier, price, or partner for which we would.

Deleting your account permanently removes your identified record. De-identified copies already contributed remain in the dataset, because by design they carry no link back to you — there is nothing left to look up and remove. This is worth understanding before you start.

More on export and deletion is on the your data page, and the full detail is in the privacy notice.

If you are a patient with a concern, or a researcher interested in access, email admin@narrativheal.com.