Commonplace
Frequently asked questions
For the Commonplace HSA/FSA Letters app for Shopify. Last updated 7 August 2026.
In one line. Many HSA/FSA purchases need a Letter of Medical Necessity from a licensed clinician. This app marks which of your products qualify and hands your customer to Commonplace to request one — without you ever handling health information.
Does this change my checkout?
No. Your customer buys from you, on your store, through Shopify checkout, at your price. The app never adds anything to a cart, never changes a price, and never routes a shopper to an external checkout for your merchandise. The button opens in a new tab, so your product page is not navigated away from.
What does it cost me?
Nothing — no install fee, no monthly fee, no commission. Your customer pays Commonplace $29 for the clinical review. Full detail on the pricing page.
Do I become responsible for my customers' health information?
No, and the app is built specifically so that cannot happen. You see a reference code, the product and a status. You never see health questionnaires, conditions, dates of birth or the letters themselves.
That is enforced structurally rather than by policy: the credential this app holds has no permission to request health data, and the endpoint it calls cannot return it. Health information is collected by Commonplace directly from the shopper, on Commonplace’s own HIPAA-scoped platform, after they leave your store.
What data does the app read from my store?
Products, and nothing else. The app requests two permissions — read products and write products — and no others. There is no access to customers, orders or checkouts.
Write access exists for one purpose: to set the app-owned metafields that make the badge appear on approved products.
Which of my products can be eligible?
You choose, and we review each one. Products are scored automatically to suggest candidates, you submit the ones you want, and a Commonplace reviewer approves each item and attaches the health conditions that could justify it. Nothing appears on your storefront until it has been approved — you cannot make your own products eligible, and neither can we without you selecting them.
Will it slow my product pages down?
No. The badge reads app-owned metafields directly from Liquid, so a product page makes no network request to us at all. There is no third-party call in your Lighthouse score and nothing that can shift your layout while it loads.
What happens if a clinician says no?
Your customer is not charged, and you are not charged. Clinical judgment belongs to the clinician, and not every request results in a letter. Your sale is unaffected either way — the product was already bought from you through normal checkout.
Where is this available?
Across the United States — all 50 states and Washington, DC. Every letter is written by a clinician licensed in your customer’s own state.
A customer is asking me about their letter. What can I tell them?
Ask them for their reference code — the HSA-XXXXXX string shown on their request — and you can see its status under Applications in the app. For anything clinical, they should contact Commonplace directly at service@trycommonplace.com. We cannot discuss a patient’s health information with you, and you are better off not holding it.
How do I get the badge onto my product pages?
Two app blocks added once in your theme editor — no theme code to edit. Step-by-step on the setup page.
What happens if I uninstall?
The badge and button disappear from your storefront immediately, because the metafields that drive them belong to the app. Letters already issued to your customers remain valid; they are medical records and belong to the patient, not to the app.