Mobile Messaging Policy
This policy explains the text messaging (SMS) programs operated by KPUC LLC d/b/a Kinder Pediatric Urgent Care (“Kinder,” “we,” “us,” “our”). It supplements our Website Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Notice of Privacy Practices.
How You Sign Up
There are two ways to join a Kinder text messaging program. We never add anyone any other way.
1. You text us first
Each Kinder location publishes a text number on our website and at the front desk. When you send a text message to one of those numbers, you are asking us to text you back, and we will. Sending us that first message is how you opt in. We do not text a number that has not texted us first.
2. You give written consent at registration
When you register at a Kinder location, you are given our Consent to Treatment and Conditions of Service form. That form contains a section on communications where you provide your mobile number and expressly agree to receive calls, voicemail, email, and text messages from Kinder. You sign and date the form, and we keep the signed copy in the patient record.
Consent is never required to receive care. Agreeing to receive feedback requests or health-service messages is not a condition of treatment, payment, eligibility, or purchasing any service. You may decline messaging on the registration form and still be seen, and staff will record the decline in our system.
We do not buy, rent, import, or otherwise obtain phone numbers from any outside list, data broker, or lead vendor.
The Two Programs We Operate
| Location messaging | Feedback requests | |
|---|---|---|
| Who starts it | You text us first | We text you after a visit |
| How you opt in | By sending us a text | By signing the registration form |
| What it covers | Hours, locations, insurance, wait times, services, what to bring | Asking about your experience and inviting a review |
| Number used | Your location’s published text number | A separate number |
| How to stop | Reply STOP | Reply STOP |
These are separate programs. Opting out of one does not opt you out of the other.
Program 1 — Location messaging
Text your location’s number with administrative questions: our hours, whether we are open, directions and parking, accepted insurance, current wait times, services offered, what to bring, and whether an appointment is needed. Our front desk staff reply from the same number. We do not send marketing or promotional messages to these numbers.
Program 2 — Feedback and review requests
After a visit, we may text the mobile number on file to ask about your experience or invite you to leave a review. These messages are sent on our behalf by a patient-feedback service under a written agreement, from a different number than the location numbers.
Message Frequency
Message frequency varies. Location messaging is conversational — we reply to what you send, so the number of messages depends on your conversation with us. Feedback requests are typically sent once after a visit.
Message and Data Rates
Message and data rates may apply. Kinder does not charge you for text messages. Your mobile carrier’s standard messaging and data rates apply to messages you send and receive. Contact your wireless carrier with questions about your plan.
How to Stop Messages
Reply STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL, or UNSUBSCRIBE to any message. We will send one confirmation message and then stop.
You may also revoke consent by any other reasonable method — telling any staff member, calling the center, or writing to us at the address below. We honor a revocation immediately where required and in all cases within the legally permitted period, not to exceed 10 business days.
If you opt out of location messaging and later text us again, that new message re-starts the conversation and we will reply.
Stopping text messages does not withdraw your consent to treatment and does not affect the care you receive.
How to Get Help
Reply HELP to any message, or call us at 732-917-4454 and ask for the front desk.
Privacy
No mobile information, mobile phone number, or SMS consent will be shared with, sold to, or rented to third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. We do not sell patient lists.
Mobile information is shared only with parties that help us operate these programs on our behalf — such as our messaging platform, our patient-feedback service, and our management services organization — each bound by a written agreement, including a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement where applicable, and each prohibited from using your information for its own purposes.
See our Website Privacy Policy for full details, and our Notice of Privacy Practices for how we handle protected health information.
Text messaging is not for emergencies. Do not use text messaging to report a medical emergency or an urgent change in your child’s condition. If this is an emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room immediately.
Text Messaging Is Not Medical Advice
Messages exchanged through these programs are administrative only. Nothing sent through them is medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and no physician–patient relationship is created by texting us. For questions about your child’s symptoms, medications, or care, call the center directly.
Please Do Not Send Sensitive Information
Standard text messaging is not an encrypted channel, and a message may reveal that you or your child interacted with Kinder. Please do not send detailed medical history, test results, photographs of injuries or conditions, insurance identification numbers, or other sensitive personal information by text. If we need that information, we will ask you to provide it by phone or in person. You may ask us to communicate with you in a different way or at a different number or address, and we will accommodate reasonable requests.
Our Locations
| Location | Phone |
|---|---|
| Union | 908-505-2000 |
| Metuchen | 732-917-4454 |
| Piscataway | 732-783-4000 |
| Totowa | 973-355-6800 |
| Jersey City | 201-257-6000 |
Each location’s text number is published on that location’s page and at the front desk.
Carriers and Delivery
Supported carriers include AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and most other U.S. carriers. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. We cannot guarantee that any message will be delivered, or delivered within a particular time.
Response Times
We aim to respond promptly during operating hours. We do not monitor these lines continuously and cannot guarantee a response time. A message received outside operating hours may receive an automatic reply and is answered when we reopen.
Eligibility
These programs are intended for parents, legal guardians, and other adults authorized to communicate with us about a patient’s care, and for adult patients. Please do not enroll a number you are not authorized to use.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The effective date above shows when it was last revised.
Contact Us
KPUC LLC d/b/a Kinder Pediatric Urgent Care
65 US Highway 1 South, Metuchen, NJ 08840
Phone: 732-917-4454
Email: info@kinderpeds.com