Northeast Georgia Health System acknowledges and respects any individual’s right to privacy. We take your concerns related to privacy and security seriously. We therefore want you to know how we may collect, use, share, and protect your information through our website.

This privacy statement applies to all NGHS-owned websites.

Notice of Privacy Practices

Notice of Privacy Practices, Effective Date: February 2026 — Last Updated: April 2026

This notice describes:

  1. how information about you may be used and disclosed
  2. your rights with respect to your health information
  3. how to file a complaint concerning a violation of the privacy or security of your health information or of your rights concerning your information

Please review it carefully. You have a right to a copy of this notice (in paper or electronic form) and to discuss it with the Privacy Office at 844-917-1115 or [email protected]  if you have any questions

View the Notice of Privacy Practices

Online Privacy and Tracking

General Information we collect & how it is used

Personal Identifying Information
Visitors can browse all NGHS websites without providing any personal identifiable information. Certain information may not be personally identifiable when standing alone (e.g., your age), but may become so when combined with other information (e.g., your age and name). Whether you provide this information is your choice; however, in many instances this type of information is required to participate in a particular activity, realize a benefit we may offer, or receive additional information you may request.

Certain pages contain forms that give visitors the option of providing us with contact information including name, physical address, phone, and email address if you choose to contact us. Providing this information is voluntary. The information you submit is shared internally with NGHS employees who need this information to help respond to your request or improve NGHS operations. Information submitted may be used to evaluate the technical functionality of our website. Information provided may also be utilized to address inappropriate use or communications associated with our website.

We do not share any personally identifiable information of any individual collected on our website with any third party unrelated to us, except in situations where we must provide information for legal purposes or investigations, to protect our rights in or the safety of our website, to protect the safety or rights of other users of our website or if so directed by such individual through a proper authorization.

Non-Personal Identifying Information
We collect non-personal information such as website usage, traffic patterns, site performance and related statistics in aggregate based on our tracking of your visits to our website. Non-personal information may include the type of browser you are using, the third-party website from which your visit originated, the operating system you are using, the domain name of your Internet service provider, the search terms you use on our website, and the specific web pages you visit.

How we collect Information

Newsletters and Email Communications
NGHS offers you the opportunity to receive e-newsletters and e-publications related to our services, news and announcements. You can sign up for free and can unsubscribe at any time through the contact information contained in those communications.

Other communications that you send to us via email may be shared with a customer service representative, employee, medical expert or other NGHS employee that is best able to respond to your inquiry. Email communications are not completely secure or confidential. It is possible that an email may be accessed or read by other internet users. Please do not use email for communications you wish to keep protected and secure.

“Phishing” is a scam designed to steal your personal information. If you receive an email that looks like it is from us asking you for your personal information, do not respond. We will never request your password, user name, credit card information or other personal information through email.

Forms and Surveys
Our website contains forms through which users may request information or supply feedback to us. In some cases, telephone numbers, email addresses or return addresses are required so that we can supply requested information to you, and in other cases, correct names and addresses are required to process credit card payments. All information collected on forms throughout our website are stored on a HIPAA-compliant server to ensure that information remains secure.

After you fill out a form, we may contact you with follow-up information related to your request. We do not provide any information supplied on our web forms to any outside organization for any reason (other than where we may be required to by law, or as necessary to process credit card information). We do not save this personal information for any other reason.

Occasionally, we may survey visitors to our site. The information from these surveys is used in aggregate form to help us understand the needs of our visitors so that we can improve our site. We generally do not ask for information in surveys that would personally identify you. If we do request contact information for follow-up, you may decline to provide it. If survey respondents provide personal information (such as an email address) in a survey, it is shared only with those people who need to see it to respond to the question or request.

Cookies
We collect information about visitors to our site using “first party cookies”, which are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser. Cookies are never associated with specific personal identities. First party cookies are distinct from third party cookies that they are created and directly served by the company hosting the website.

We may use both session ID cookies and persistent cookies. A session ID cookie expires when you close your internet browser. A persistent cookie is stored on your computer. Cookies enable us to track and target the interest of our visitors to enhance your experience on our website.

You can delete our cookies at any time. The “help” section, located on the toolbar of most browsers, will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie or how to disable cookies altogether. Since cookies allow you to take full advantage of some of our website’s best features, we recommend that you leave them turned on.

IP Addresses
Our internet server automatically tracks (but does not store) the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computers that access our site. An IP address is a number that is assigned to your computer when you access the internet. NGHS may use this information to evaluate how visitors navigate our websites and help improve the content.

Please note that although such information is not personally identifiable, we can determine from an IP address a visitor’s Internet Service Provider and the geographic location of his or her point of connectivity.

Location Tracking
An IP address must be assigned to devices that access the internet. IP addresses are used to make the connection between your device and the websites and services you use. You can’t prevent a website or app from getting the IP address of your device.

Your IP address includes some general information about your device location and we use that information to display your approximate location in the website and mobile app user experience. We identify your device’s approximate location from your IP address, which is provided to us when you visit our website. We do this to provide you a customized experience on our website and mobile app, including the display of location-based information that is relevant to you and your care.

Please note for mobile apps, you may opt in or out of location-based services by changing the location permission settings on your device.

Analytics
NGHS utilizes Google Analytics 4 to gather certain information automatically and store for analytical purposes. This information includes browser type, referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp (to the closest hour), and clickstream data. Internet (IP) addresses and internet service providers (ISP) information is collected, but not stored or retained. We use this information to track and compile non-personal information to analyze trends, monitor visitor traffic within our website content, and gather aggregate demographic information about our visitors. We may combine this log file information with other information we collect from or about you to help improve the services we offer, our marketing, analytics or website functionality.

You may choose to opt out of Google Analytics by going to the following links:

Call Tracking Metrics
We use two call tracking systems, Call Tracking Metrics and CallRail, to monitor the quality of some of our calls and improve our marketing efforts or website user experience. Both systems are HIPAA-compliant platforms that treats all personal identifiable data with a high degree of security.

Links to other websites
Our website content may contain links to other websites not owned by NGHS. These third-party websites have different privacy notices and practices. If you submit any information to those websites, your information is governed by the Privacy Statement published on that website. We encourage you to carefully read the Privacy Statement for any website you visit.

Information Security

NGHS provides reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect our website content and any personal information you may provide against foreseeable hazards. When you enter sensitive information (such as a credit card numbers or Protected Health Information) on our forms, we encrypt the transmission of that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).

When you come across a web page that is secured, your browser will likely display a “closed lock” or other symbol to inform you that SSL has been enabled. The web address should start with “https://” rather than “http://”. SSL allows a secure connection between your web browser and a web server. No computer system or information however can ever by fully protected from every possible threat or hazard and therefore we cannot warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk.

We do not share personal information with third parties unrelated to NGHS, except when required to for legal purposes or investigations. We may share your personal information with third parties who we have contracted with to help us provide services. We will ensure that these third parties have agreed not to use or disclose your personal information except to help us provide the services