Privacy policy

Who we are

Ozturk Foot & Ankle INC, doing business as Ozturk Foot & Ankle (“we,” “us”), operates this website at www.ozturkfootankle.com. Our two specialty practices, the Lower Extremity Nerve Institute (nerveinstitutenj.com) and the Center for Lower Extremity Surgery (lowerextremitysurgery.com), are part of the same practice and follow the same privacy practices.

This policy and your medical information

This policy covers the website. Health information that we create or receive as your healthcare provider, including anything you tell us once you are a patient, is protected by federal and state law, including HIPAA, and is described in our Notice of Privacy Practices. If the two ever differ for your health information, the Notice of Privacy Practices applies.

Information you choose to give us

• Contact form. When you send a message, we receive your name, email address, phone number, preferred office, whether you are a new or existing patient, how you’d like us to reply, and any note you add. The form is sent securely (HTTPS) and delivered by email to our office through our own email service; this website doesn’t keep a copy. Please don’t include medical details, dates of birth or insurance numbers.
• Email and phone. If you email or call us, we receive what you choose to share. Email is for general, non-clinical questions.
• Online booking. Appointments booked through Zocdoc are handled by Zocdoc under its own privacy policy; Zocdoc then shares your booking with us.

Information collected automatically

• Server logs. Our hosting provider automatically processes technical information such as IP address, browser type and the pages requested, to deliver and secure the website.
• Analytics. If enabled, we use Google Analytics 4 to understand, in aggregate, how the website is used: which pages are visited and whether people use buttons such as “Call,” “Book now” or “Directions.” Google signals and advertising personalization are turned off, and we never send names, contact details, form contents or health information to analytics. Analytics uses cookies or similar technologies. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, analytics does not load.
• No advertising trackers. We don’t use advertising or retargeting pixels, and we don’t sell or share personal information for advertising.

Features that stay on your device

• Office map and ZIP-code search. The map is drawn by this website from public government map data. When you enter a ZIP code to find your nearest office, the calculation happens in your browser; the ZIP code isn’t sent to us or to anyone else.
• Video. The sports medicine video is hosted by YouTube. Its preview image loads from YouTube, but the player itself doesn’t load until you press play; it then uses YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, and YouTube’s privacy policy applies to your use of it.
• Instagram. Images from our Instagram account are served through this website, so viewing them doesn’t connect your browser to Instagram. Following a link to Instagram takes you to Instagram, whose policy then applies.

How we use information

• to reply to your message and schedule appointments
• to operate, maintain and secure the website
• to understand, in aggregate, how the website is used so we can improve it
• to comply with legal obligations

We don’t use website information for marketing emails or texts, and we don’t sell personal information.

How information is shared

We share information only with service providers that help us operate the website and handle messages, such as our website host, our email provider and, if enabled, our analytics provider, under agreements that limit how they can use it, and when required by law. Where a service provider handles health information on our behalf, we require a business associate agreement.

Keeping information

Messages from the contact form are kept in our office email as long as needed to respond and as required by our record-keeping policies. If a message becomes part of your care, it is kept with your medical record under our Notice of Privacy Practices.

Security

The website uses encryption in transit (HTTPS) and strict security settings. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, which is one reason not to send medical details by email or web form.

Children

This website is not directed to children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their personal information online. Parents and guardians should contact us on behalf of children.

Your choices and rights

• You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, and enable Global Privacy Control to prevent analytics from loading.
• You can ask what information you have sent us through this website, and ask us to correct or delete it, subject to our legal obligations to keep medical records.
• Depending on where you live, state privacy laws, including the New Jersey Data Privacy Act, may give you additional rights. Health information covered by HIPAA is governed by HIPAA and our Notice of Privacy Practices.
• For rights over your medical records, see our Notice of Privacy Practices.

Contact us

Questions or requests about this policy: call 908-215-5953, email info@ozturkfootankle.com, or write to Ozturk Foot & Ankle INC, 623 Ridge Road, Suite 301, Lyndhurst, NJ 07071. See also our terms of use, accessibility statement and medical disclaimer.

Changes to this policy

We will post any changes on this page and update the effective date above.