Effective Date: January 1, 2025
Last Updated: February 17, 2026
This Cookie Policy explains how Short Hills Ophthalmology ("SHO," "the Practice," "we," "us," or "our") uses cookies and similar tracking technologies on our website located at shorthillseye.com (the "Website"). This policy should be read in conjunction with our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
By continuing to use our Website, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Cookie Policy and consent to our use of cookies as described herein. You can control and manage cookies through the methods described in Section 7 of this policy.
Important — Healthcare Practice Website: Short Hills Ophthalmology is a medical practice providing ophthalmology services. This Cookie Policy governs only the tracking technologies used on this website. It does not govern protected health information (PHI) collected during in-person patient visits or through our clinical systems, which is covered by our separate HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices. For information about how we handle personal information collected through this website, please see our Privacy Policy.
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer, smartphone, or other device when you visit a website. Cookies are widely used by website owners to make their websites work more efficiently, provide a better user experience, and gather analytical information about how visitors use the site.
Session Cookies: These are temporary cookies that remain on your device only while you are actively browsing our Website. They are deleted automatically when you close your browser. Session cookies help us maintain your browsing session and enable basic website functionality.
Persistent Cookies: These cookies remain on your device for a set period of time (specified in the cookie itself) or until you manually delete them. Persistent cookies help us remember your preferences, recognize you when you return to our Website, and analyze how you use our Website over time.
First-Party Cookies: These cookies are set directly by SHO's Website and can only be read by our Website. They enable core website functionality and help us understand how visitors use our site.
Third-Party Cookies: These cookies are set by external services that we use on our Website, such as analytics providers and advertising platforms. These cookies enable third parties to recognize your device when you visit our Website and when you visit certain other websites.
In addition to cookies, we use similar technologies including:
For simplicity, this policy uses the term "cookies" to refer to all these technologies.
Short Hills Ophthalmology uses cookies for several important purposes:
Some cookies are essential to enable you to navigate our Website and use its features. Without these cookies, certain services you have requested (such as form submissions or secure areas) cannot be provided.
We use cookies to collect information about how visitors use our Website, such as which pages are visited most often, how long visitors stay on pages, and what errors they encounter. This helps us improve our Website's performance, content, and user experience.
These cookies allow our Website to remember choices you make (such as form auto-fill information) and provide enhanced, more personalized features.
We use cookies to deliver relevant advertisements about our ophthalmology services to individuals seeking eye care information. These cookies help us:
We use cookies to help identify and prevent security risks, detect and prevent fraudulent activity, and verify that form submissions are from real users (via Google reCAPTCHA).
The following tables provide detailed information about the specific cookies and tracking technologies used on our Website:
These cookies are essential for our Website to function properly. They enable basic functionality such as page navigation, access to secure areas, and form submissions.
| Cookie Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| wordpress_* | shorthillseye.com | WordPress session management and authentication | Session | First-party |
| wp-settings-* | shorthillseye.com | WordPress user interface customization | 1 year | First-party |
| PHPSESSID | shorthillseye.com | Maintains user session state across page requests | Session | First-party |
| security cookies | shorthillseye.com | Security features including CSRF protection | Varies | First-party |
These cookies collect information about how visitors interact with our Website, helping us improve functionality and user experience.
| Cookie Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _ga | Google Analytics | Distinguishes unique users and calculates visitor, session, and campaign data | 2 years | First-party (via Taggrs.io) |
| _ga_* | Google Analytics 4 | Maintains session state for Google Analytics 4 | 2 years | First-party (via Taggrs.io) |
| _gid | Google Analytics | Distinguishes users for 24-hour analysis period | 24 hours | First-party (via Taggrs.io) |
Server-Side Analytics Implementation: Our Google Analytics implementation uses a server-side configuration via Taggrs.io with a subdomain of shorthillseye.com. This means Google Analytics cookies are set as first-party cookies from our domain, which enhances privacy, improves data accuracy, and reduces dependence on third-party cookies that may be blocked by browsers.
These cookies are used to deliver relevant advertisements and measure campaign effectiveness. They track your browsing behavior across websites.
| Cookie Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _gcl_au | Google Ads | Stores and tracks conversions from Google Ads | 90 days | First-party |
| test_cookie | Google Ads | Checks if browser supports cookies | 15 minutes | Third-party |
| IDE | Google DoubleClick | Registers user actions for ad targeting and frequency capping | 1 year | Third-party |
| _uetsid | Microsoft Advertising | Tracks user sessions for Microsoft Ads conversion tracking | 24 hours | First-party |
| _uetvid | Microsoft Advertising | Visitor identifier for Microsoft advertising and analytics | 13 months | First-party |
| MUID | Microsoft Advertising | Microsoft user identifier for tracking across Microsoft services | 1 year | Third-party |
| li_sugr | Browser identifier for LinkedIn advertising and analytics | 90 days | Third-party | |
| bcookie | Browser identifier cookie for LinkedIn services | 2 years | Third-party | |
| lidc | Facilitates data center selection for optimization | 24 hours | Third-party | |
| UserMatchHistory | LinkedIn Ads ID syncing for audience matching | 30 days | Third-party | |
| _fbp | Facebook Pixel | Tracks visitors for Facebook advertising | 90 days | Third-party |
| fr | Enables ad delivery and remarketing on Facebook | 90 days | Third-party | |
| _omra | AIOSEO Pro | Stores interaction and conversion data for SEO tracking | 1 year | Third-party |
These cookies remember your preferences and choices to provide enhanced functionality.
| Cookie Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| form data cookies | shorthillseye.com | Temporarily stores form inputs for auto-fill convenience | Session | First-party |
Certain forms on this website, including Elementor Pro callback request forms, are protected by Google reCAPTCHA. reCAPTCHA may set cookies to verify that you are not a bot.
| Cookie Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _GRECAPTCHA | Google reCAPTCHA | Provides bot detection and spam prevention for form submissions | 6 months | Third-party |
| rc::a, rc::b, rc::c | Google reCAPTCHA | Distinguishes between humans and bots for form security | Session / Persistent | Third-party |
Your use of reCAPTCHA is subject to Google's Privacy Policy and Google's Terms of Service.
IMPORTANT — Enhanced Privacy on HIPAA-Compliant Form Pages: To protect user privacy during sensitive form interactions, Short Hills Ophthalmology implements enhanced privacy protections on pages containing HIPAA-compliant appointment scheduling forms. Third-party analytics and advertising tracking technologies are restricted on these pages to ensure that your scheduling form data is not tracked, analyzed, or shared with third-party analytics or advertising providers.
Standard website forms (such as general contact and callback request forms) operate under the normal tracking practices described in Section 4 of this policy. These forms collect limited contact information and are not subject to the same enhanced restrictions as HIPAA-compliant scheduling forms.
Security features such as bot protection remain active on all forms to protect against spam and fraudulent submissions.
When you navigate away from HIPAA-compliant form pages to other pages of this website, standard tracking and analytics cookies resume as described in Section 4 above. For more information about how your form data is handled, please see our Privacy Policy.
Cookies and similar technologies collect various types of information, including:
Important: Cookies do not collect your name, email address, phone number, or other directly identifiable personal information unless you voluntarily provide such information through forms on our Website. Cookies primarily collect technical and behavioral data that, when combined with other information, may be associated with you.
We do NOT collect protected health information (PHI) through cookies. Cookies on this website do not collect, store, or transmit any medical information, health records, diagnoses, treatment details, or other PHI. Medical and health-related information is handled exclusively through our clinical systems and governed by our HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices.
You have several options to control and manage cookies on our Website. Please note that blocking certain cookies may impact your Website experience and functionality.
Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings preferences. You can typically:
Browser-Specific Instructions:
For detailed instructions specific to your browser version, visit allaboutcookies.org or search your browser's help documentation.
Google Analytics: You can prevent Google Analytics from collecting and processing data about your website usage by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on:
You can opt out of targeted advertising from specific platforms through their privacy settings:
Google Ads:
Microsoft Advertising:
LinkedIn:
Facebook:
You can also use industry-wide opt-out platforms to manage advertising cookies from multiple providers at once:
Mobile devices have settings that limit ad tracking:
iOS (iPhone/iPad):
Android:
Important: Opting out of advertising cookies does not mean you will stop seeing advertisements. It means the ads you see will be less relevant to your interests and activities.
Third-party services that set cookies on our Website have their own privacy policies and cookie policies. We encourage you to review these policies to understand how these companies collect and use information:
Short Hills Ophthalmology is not responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party services. These companies may use cookies for purposes beyond our Website, such as tracking you across other websites you visit.
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), California residents have the right to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. Certain advertising cookies on our Website may constitute "sharing" under CCPA/CPRA. California residents may exercise their opt-out rights using the methods described in Section 7 above. For additional information about your California privacy rights, please see our Privacy Policy.
Residents of Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and other states with privacy legislation may have additional rights regarding targeted advertising. You can exercise your opt-out rights through the methods described in Section 7. For state-specific information, please review our Privacy Policy.
If you are visiting from the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom, you have additional rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Non-essential cookies require your consent. You can manage consent through your browser settings or the opt-out mechanisms described in Section 7. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in:
When we make changes to this Cookie Policy, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy and post the updated policy on this page. For material changes, we may provide additional notice through our Website.
We encourage you to review this Cookie Policy periodically to stay informed about how we use cookies. Your continued use of our Website after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated Cookie Policy.
If you have questions or concerns about our use of cookies or this Cookie Policy, please contact us:
Related Policies:
This Cookie Policy was last updated on February 17, 2026. It explains the cookies and similar technologies used on the Short Hills Ophthalmology website and how you can control them.
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