This policy applies to consumer health data and exists separately from our general Privacy Policy because Washington State and Nevada law require it. It explains what health-related data we collect, why, who sees it, and how to make us delete it.
Effective date: October 2, 2026 · Last updated: October 2, 2026
Who This Covers
Vanguard Optimization, a service of Crawford Medical, LLC, operates vanguardoptimization.com. This policy describes our handling of "consumer health data" as defined by the Washington My Health My Data Act and the equivalent Nevada law. It applies to every visitor and member, not only Washington and Nevada residents — we apply the same standard to everyone.
Vanguard Optimization is an educational research platform. It is not a healthcare provider, does not diagnose or treat, and is not a covered entity under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
What Health Data We Collect
- Supplement stack entries (paid tiers) — the substances you log, with dose, frequency, your stated reasons for taking them, and any notes you add. Reasons and notes are free text and may describe a condition or symptom.
- Research assistant conversations — the questions you ask and the answers given. These often concern health topics by their nature.
- Content you read — the server log of which pages you viewed, which can indicate interest in a particular compound, condition, or treatment.
- Email engagement — whether you opened a particular health-related email or clicked a link in it.
- Account identifiers — your email address and tier, which connect the above to you.
We do not collect biometric data, genetic data, precise location, diagnoses from a clinician, laboratory results, prescriptions, or any record from a healthcare provider.
Why We Collect It
- To provide the stack tracker and tell you when new research affects something you take
- To answer your questions through the research assistant
- To decide which compounds to write about next, based on what members are reading and asking
- To send the educational emails you subscribed to
- To keep the Service secure and working
We do not use health data to target advertising, and we do not build advertising profiles from it.
Who We Share It With
We do not sell consumer health data. We have never sold it, and selling it would require your separate written authorization, which we do not seek.
We share it only with the service providers who make the Service work:
- Anthropic — receives your assistant questions in order to generate an answer
- Railway — hosts the database where stack entries are stored
- Ghost (Pro) — hosts the site and the member record
- Resend and our newsletter provider — deliver the emails you asked for
- Cloudflare — routes traffic and blocks abuse
Meta receives no health data. When you sign up through one of our advertisements, our server sends Meta a one-way encoded form of your email address so we can measure whether the advertising works. Meta is not told what you read, what you log, or what you ask. We removed the advertising pixel that previously reported page views — including monograph pages — from the entire site in October 2026.
We will disclose data if the law compels it, and we will tell you unless we are forbidden from doing so.
Your Rights
You have the right to:
- Know what consumer health data we have about you, and who we have shared it with
- Access a copy of it
- Withdraw consent to our collection or sharing of it
- Delete it — including from our backups and from our service providers, who we will instruct accordingly
To exercise any of these, write to [email protected] from the address on your account, or from any address if you tell us which account you mean. We will confirm receipt and complete the request within 45 days, and will tell you if we need longer. There is no charge, and we will not treat you differently for asking.
If we refuse a request, we will say why, and you may appeal by replying to that refusal. If the appeal is denied you may complain to the Washington State Attorney General at atg.wa.gov/file-complaint.
How We Protect It
Stack entries and account data sit in an access-controlled database. Traffic to the site is encrypted. Assistant conversations are not retained on our servers after your session. Access by the operator of the Service is limited to what is operationally necessary — in practice, support and debugging.
How Long We Keep It
Stack entries remain while your account is active or until you delete them. Account records are kept for up to 24 months after cancellation so you can return without re-entering anything. Server logs are kept for a short operational period and then discarded. Assistant conversations are not kept.
Changes
If we change this policy we will update the date above and, for material changes, email members. We will not apply a materially different use to data already collected without asking you first.
Contact
Vanguard Optimization, a service of Crawford Medical, LLC
Kristopher Crawford, MD
Crawford Medical, LLC · 626 W Evans St · Florence, SC 29501