Cookie Policy
Effective Date: October 22, 2025
This Cookie Policy explains how Dr. Gabriella Farkas, MD, PhD (“we,” “our,” or “us”) uses cookies and similar technologies on our website. By using our website, you agree to the use of cookies as described in this policy.
1. What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device (computer, tablet, or smartphone) when you visit a website. They help websites remember your preferences, enhance user experience, and provide information to website operators about how visitors interact with the site.
Cookies allow us to optimize your experience while ensuring we maintain the highest standards of privacy and security for all visitors to our practice website.
2. Types of Cookies We Use
Essential Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function properly and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are typically set in response to actions you take, such as navigating between pages, accessing secure areas, or submitting contact forms. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
Performance and Analytics Cookies
These cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website by collecting anonymous usage data. This allows us to improve the website’s performance, user experience, and content relevance. We may use services like Google Analytics for this purpose. The information collected includes:
- Pages visited and time spent on each page
- Navigation patterns and click behavior
- Device type, browser type, and screen resolution
- Geographic location (city/region level only)
- Referring website or search terms used to find our site
This data is aggregated and anonymized, and cannot be used to identify individual visitors.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization, such as remembering your preferences (e.g., language settings, text size) and improving your overall experience during return visits.
3. Third-Party Cookies
We may allow trusted third-party services to set cookies for analytics and performance purposes. These third parties are carefully selected and required to follow applicable data protection regulations, including HIPAA where relevant, and our strict privacy standards.
Third-party services we may use include:
- Google Analytics (for website traffic analysis and user behavior insights)
- Content delivery networks (for faster page loading and improved performance)
These third parties do not have access to Protected Health Information (PHI) and operate under their own privacy policies, which we encourage you to review.
4. How to Manage Cookies
You can manage or disable cookies at any time through your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may impact the functionality and performance of our website, though it will not affect your ability to receive clinical care or schedule appointments.
Browser Cookie Settings
To learn more about managing cookies, you can visit the help pages of your browser:
Most browsers allow you to:
- View and delete cookies currently stored on your device
- Block all cookies from being set
- Block third-party cookies specifically
- Clear all cookies when you close your browser
5. HIPAA Compliance and Cookie Use
As a healthcare provider committed to protecting your privacy, Dr. Gabriella Farkas does not use cookies to collect, store, or transmit Protected Health Information (PHI) without explicit authorization.
Important Privacy Protections:
- Cookies on our public website do not collect or store any medical information, diagnoses, treatment details, or other PHI
- Our patient portal and telehealth platform operate separately from website cookies and maintain HIPAA-compliant security measures
- All data collected through cookies is anonymized and aggregated for website improvement purposes only
- We ensure that all cookie use remains compliant with HIPAA, South Carolina privacy laws, and federal regulations
If you become a patient, your clinical information is protected under our comprehensive Privacy Policy and HIPAA regulations, completely separate from website cookie data.
6. Updates to This Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. Any changes will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.
We encourage you to review this Cookie Policy periodically to stay informed about how we use cookies and protect your information.
7. Contact Us
If you have any questions about our Cookie Policy or how we use cookies on our website, please contact us:
Dr. Gabriella Farkas, MD, PhD
Adult & Geriatric Psychiatry
New York office: 3245 Hunters Point Ave, Long Island City, New York 11101
South Carolina office: 11 Palmetto Bay Rd, Ste 101, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina 29928
917-267-9678
hello@pearlbh.com
Your privacy is our priority. We are committed to transparency in how we use technology while providing expert psychiatric care to the Lowcountry community.