Joshua Halpern, MD operates the website drhalpern.com. The purpose of this page is to inform our Website visitors about our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information of those who choose to use our Website (Privacy Policy). If you choose to use our Website, you agree to the collection and use of information in relation to this Privacy Policy.
Our patients’ privacy is very important to us, and we are committed to protecting the privacy of the data collected from you when you visit this Website. The personal information we collect is used for providing and improving our Website. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy. We are also committed to keeping your health information private according to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Information Collection and Use
When visiting our Website, you may be required to provide certain personally identifiable information (PII), including but not limited to your name, email address, phone number, mailing address, or credit card information. However, you may visit our Website anonymously. We collect information from you when you register on our Website, subscribe to our emails or newsletter, or fill out a form.
We may use the information we collect to contact or identify you for several reasons, including but not limited to the following:
- To personalize your experience so we can better respond to your individual needs
- To improve our Website based on the information and feedback we receive from you
- To improve our Website so we can respond to your requests and needs more effectively
- To deliver to you the service you requested or the product you purchased
- To send you information and respond to questions or requests
Log Data
Whenever you visit our Website, we collect information your browser sends us, called Log Data. This Log Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser version, pages of our Website you visited, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, and other statistics.
Cookies
Cookies are small files that a website or service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser, enabling the site or service provider to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. Our Website uses these “cookies” to collect information and to improve our Website, which helps us provide you with the best experience possible. You have the option to either accept or refuse these cookies and to know when a cookie is being sent to your computer. If you choose to refuse or disable our cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Website. You may contact us via phone or our contact form to request access to, deletion of, or amendments to the personal information we collected.
Service Providers
We may employ third-party companies and individuals for the following reasons:
- To facilitate our Website
- To provide the Website services on our behalf
- To perform Website-related services
- To assist us in analyzing how our Website is used
These third parties have access to your personal information to perform the tasks assigned to them on our behalf. However, they must not disclose or use the information for any other purpose.
Google Analytics
This Website uses Google Analytics to help analyze how visitors use this Website. Google Analytics tracks where you came from by your IP address location, which is anonymized. You may learn more about Google Analytics terms of service or how to opt out of Google Analytics.
Google Ads
This Website may use the Google Ads remarketing service to advertise on third-party websites (including Google) to previous visitors to our site. It could mean that we advertise to those who visited our Website in the past but did not complete a task on it, such as filling out the contact form to make an inquiry. This advertisement could be in the form of an ad on the Google search results page or a site in the Google Display Network. The Google Display Network is a group of more than a million websites, videos, and apps where ads can appear. Sites in this network have partnered with Google to show relevant ads. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to this Website. Any data collected will be used in accordance with the privacy policies of Google and this Website. You may opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s ad personalization settings. You may also opt out of a third-party vendor’s use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.
Facebook Pixel
This website may use the “visitor action pixels” from Facebook Inc. (1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA, or, if you are based in the EU, Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland (“Facebook”)) on our website (“Facebook Pixel”).
Facebook Pixel allows tracking of user behavior after being redirected to the provider’s website by clicking on a Facebook ad, and it enables us to measure the effectiveness of Facebook ads for statistical and market research purposes. Data collected in this way is anonymous to us, and we do not see the personal data of individual users. However, this data is stored and processed by Facebook, and Facebook may link this information to your Facebook account and also use it for its own promotional purposes in accordance with Facebook’s Data Usage Policy. You can allow Facebook and its partners to place ads on and off Facebook. A cookie may also be stored on your computer for these purposes.
The legal basis for using this service is Art. 6, paragraph 1, sentence 1, letter of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You can object to the collection of your data by Facebook pixel or to the use of your data for the purpose of displaying Facebook ads by updating your Facebook ad settings.
Facebook is certified under the Privacy Shield Framework agreement and thus guarantees compliance with European data protection legislation.
Contact Form
Our Website’s contact form submission data—IP address, user agent, name, email address, Website, and message—may be submitted to the Akismet service (also owned by Automattic) for the sole purpose of spam checking. The actual submission data is stored in the database of the site on which it was submitted, and it is emailed directly to the owner of the form (i.e., the site author who published the page on which the contact form resides). This email will include the submitter’s IP address, timestamp, name, email address, Website, and message. The data is collected on this Website’s database and stored indefinitely.
Privacy of Collected Information and Data
We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you enter, submit, or access your personal information. We do not sell, trade, exchange, transfer, or otherwise give your PII to any other company for any reason without your consent other than for the express purpose of delivering the requested service or purchased product. However, this does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our Website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential.
We may also release your information when we believe it is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect our or others’ rights, property, or safety. However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.
How We Protect Your Information and Data
We use the following information to check login activity and potentially block fraudulent attempts: attempting the user’s IP address, attempting the user’s email address/username (i.e., according to the value they were trying to use during the login process), and all IP-related HTTP headers attached to the attempting user. Our Website is scanned regularly for security holes and known vulnerabilities to make your visit to our Website as safe as possible. Your personal information is contained behind secured networks, and it is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems and who are required to keep the information confidential.
Patient Images
All patient images on this Website are owned by Joshua Halpern, MD. We respect your privacy and understand that not all patients want their images on the Internet. We will not post images of you or your procedures without your prior written consent. If you ever want your images removed after giving consent, you can submit a written request to our office for removal.
Other Websites
This Website may contain embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles) or links to other websites on this site. Embedded content from other websites behaves in the same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website. The best practices of those websites are beyond our control. Our Privacy Policy is only good for this Website. By using our Website, you agree not to hold us liable for the actions of other websites on the Internet that are beyond our control.
Children’s Privacy
This Website complies with the requirements of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and does not address anyone under the age of 13. This Website does not knowingly collect PII from children under 13 years of age. If we discover a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we immediately delete this from our servers. If you are a parent or guardian of a child under 13 years of age and are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so that we can take the necessary actions.
HIPAA – Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act of 1996
Our Website follows the guidelines of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). You will not be entering any of your medical information on our Website. Any information obtained through the office may be used for the following reasons:
- We may need access to certain information to set up future appointments, refer you to a different physician or hospital, contact you about test results, and other “in-office” tasks regarding your medical treatment.
- We may need to give your information to other facilities, including but not limited to radiology, labs, medical specialists, and insurance companies to process claims.
HIPAA Privacy
We will never share your health information with other people without your permission. However, regarding our Website contact form, please remember that communication via email over the Internet is not secure. Although it is unlikely, there is a possibility that the information you include in an email can be intercepted and read by other parties besides the person to whom it is addressed. Please do not include personal identifying information such as your birth date or personal medical information in any emails you send to us. No one can diagnose your condition from email or other written communications, and communication via our Website cannot replace the relationship you have with a physician or another healthcare practitioner.
Understanding Your Health Record & Information
Each time you visit our office, a record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination, test results, diagnoses, treatment, and plans for future care or treatment. This information is often referred to as your health or medical record and serves as a basis for planning your care and medical treatment plan.
Information and Test Results
We may use your health information to send you information on the treatment and management of your medical condition that you may find to be of interest. We may also send you information describing other health-related goods and services that we believe may be of interest to you. If we are unable to give you test results in person or by phone, we may send the information to you using your mailing address on file or via electronic mail.
Individual Rights
You have certain rights under the federal privacy standards, which include:
- To request restrictions on the use and disclosure of your protected health information.
- To receive confidential communications concerning your medical condition and treatment.
- To inspect and copy your protected health information.
- To receive an accounting of how and to whom your protected health information has been disclosed.
- To amend or submit corrections to your protected health information.
- To receive a printed copy of the notice.
For more information about your rights under HIPAA, visit https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/index.html.
Complaints
If you would like to submit a comment or complaint about our Privacy Policy, you can send a letter outlining your concerns to Joshua Halpern, MD. If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you should send us a letter describing the cause of the privacy concern. You will not be penalized or otherwise retaliated against for filing a complaint.
Consent
By using our site, you consent to our Privacy Policy.
Changes to our Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. These changes are effective immediately after they are posted on this page. Thus, we advise you to review this page periodically for any changes.
Contact Us
Please contact us if you have any questions or suggestions about our Privacy Policy.
