Privacy Policy

The Macon Orthopaedic & Hand Center, P.A.’s Policies and Procedures

Protecting your privacy is very important to us. We are telling you about our privacy policy, so you know what information we collect, why we collect it and what we do with it.

The policy below applies to The Macon Orthopaedic & Hand Center, P.A. (hereinafter referred to as “OrthoGeorgia” internet website, www.orthoga.org).

OrthoGeorgia is committed to protecting your online privacy. In general, you can visit OrthoGeorgia’s internet webpages without revealing any personal information. 

Any personally identifiable data that you enter on this site is not sold to third parties.

Personally Identifiable Information & Protected Health Information

We implement the following as a matter of sound business practice; to protect the interests of our customers; and to fulfill our legal obligations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), its implementing regulations at 45 CFR Parts 160 and 164 (65 Fed. Reg 82462 (Dec. 28, 2000)) (“Privacy Rules”), as amended, and state law that provides greater protection or rights to patients than the Privacy Rules.

Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) refer to information which can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as their name, address, date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, social security number, biometric records, credit card number, driver’s license, medical records, etc.

OrthoGeorgia does not collect PHI/PII unless you choose to provide it.  If you create a user account, fill out an online form, or use certain tools on the website, OrthoGeorgia collects PHI/PII. This information is collected in order to provide the services you have requested.

For example, if you request or express interest in services, newsletters, or for someone to personally contact you, you will be asked to provide PHI/PII so that OrthoGeorgia can deliver those services. These types of PHI/ PII could include your name, email address or mobile phone number. OrthoGeorgia only collects the minimum amount of PHI/ PII necessary in order to deliver the requested service. You can opt out of these communications at any time by following the instructions on the communication.

OrthoGeorgia only uses PHI/PII to deliver the requested services and for internal purposes, such as monitoring, quality control, and process improvement. OrthoGeorgia does not sell PHI/PII entered into [www.orthoga.org]. PHI/PII provided to OrthoGeorgia through [www.orthoga.org] will be protected by this policy (or subsequent privacy policies) for as long as it is retained.

Other Types of Information We Collect

OrthoGeorgia automatically collects other limited information from visitors who read, browse and/or download information from [www.orthoga.org]. This information is not PHI/PII. For example, when you browse [www.orthoga.org], we, and in some cases our third-party service providers, can collect the following types of information about your visit, including:

• Domain (for example, comcast.com, if you are using a Comcast account) from which you accessed the Internet
• IP address (an IP or internet protocol address is a number that is automatically assigned to a device connected to the Web)
• Operating system (which is software that directs a computer’s basic functions such as executing programs and managing storage) for the device that you are using and information about the browser you used when visiting the site
• Date and time of your visit
• Pages you visited
• Address of the website that connected you to [www.orthoga.org] (such as google.com or bing.com)
• Device type (desktop computer, tablet, or type of mobile device)
• Screen resolution
• Browser language
• Geographic location
• Time spent on page
• Scroll depth – The measure of how much of a web page was viewed
• User events (e.g. clicking a button)

We use this information to measure the number of visitors to our site and its various sections, to help make our site more useful to visitors and to improve our public education and outreach through digital advertising. Also, this information is sometimes used to personalize the content we show to you.

Using Third-Party Tools for Outreach through Digital Advertising

OrthoGeorgia uses third-party web services to conduct outreach and education through the use of digital advertising. These services may receive your PHI/PII as part of outreach, education, or other communications authorized by OrthoGeorgia. These third-party services may collect information through the use of web beacons that are located on our pages. A web beacon is a see-through graphic image (usually 1 pixel x 1 pixel) that is placed on a web page and, in combination with a cookie, allows us to collect information regarding the use of the web page that contains the web beacon.

We use web beacons to tell when a user is redirected to [www.orthoga.org] because of OrthoGeorgia advertisement that we ran on another website was clicked on or otherwise interacted with (known as “click tracking” or “conversion tracking”) and to better target advertisements (known as “retargeting”).

OrthoGeorgia uses third-party tools to help deliver advertising, and the companies that operate these tools may receive your information as part of advertising authorized by OrthoGeorgia. Vendors that operate the third-party tools may also gather information about your visits to third-party sites outside of [www.orthoga.org]. OrthoGeorgia does not track your individual-level activity on the Internet outside of [www.orthoga.org].

The outreach and education analytics tools provide reports which aggregate data, such as the number of clicks on advertisements. The reports are available only to OrthoGeorgia managers, teams who implement digital marketing programs, members of the [www.orthoga.org] communications and web teams, and other designated staff and contractors who need this information to perform their duties.]

How OrthoGeorgia Uses Cookies & Other Technology on [www.orthoga.org]

When you visit a website, its server may generate a piece of text known as a “cookie” to place on your device. The cookie, which is unique to your browser, allows the server to “remember” specific information about your visit while you are connected. The cookie makes it easier for you to use the dynamic features of Web pages.

There are two types of cookies: single session (temporary) and multi-session (persistent). Single session cookies last only as long as your Web browser is open. Once you close your browser, the session cookie disappears. Persistent cookies are stored on your device for longer periods. Both types of cookies create an ID that is unique to your device.

Session Cookies

We use session cookies for technical purposes such as to allow better navigation through our site. These cookies let our server know that you are continuing a visit to our site.

Persistent Cookies

We use persistent cookies to understand the differences between new and returning visitors to www.orthoga.org. Persistent cookies remain on your device between visits to our site until they expire or are removed by the user. We do not use persistent cookies to collect personally identifiable information. OrthoGeorgia does not identify a user by using such technologies.

Links to Other Sites

www.orthoga.org may link to other websites. We link to other websites solely for your convenience and education. When you follow a link to an external site, you are leaving www.orthoga.org and are subject to the external site’s privacy and security policies.

Security

OrthoGeorgia has been assured that third-parties that may receive your information, as described above, likewise use appropriate security safeguards to guard against risks such as loss, unauthorized access or use, destruction, modification, or unintended or inappropriate disclosure of information.