Privacy Policy, Cookies and Terms of Use

Last Updated: August 30, 2026

HHS Privacy Policy Notice

This privacy notice applies to www.hhs.gov and a number of other HHS websites with unique domains, such as www.StopBullying.gov. However, some HHS websites maintain their own privacy policy notices.

You can find links to the applicable privacy notice in the footer of each HHS website.

• We do not collect personally identifiable information (PII) about you unless you choose to provide that information to us.
• Any personal information you choose to provide is protected by security practices.
• Non­-personal information related to your visit to our website may be automatically collected and temporarily stored.
• HHS does not disclose, give, sell, or transfer any personal information about our visitors unless required for law enforcement or by Federal law.

Health Information Privacy

For more information on your health information privacy and security rights, or on the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, visit the HHS Office for Civil Rights.

Privacy Act Information

You may also want to read information about the Privacy Act at HHS. If you have privacy questions or issues, contact an HHS Privacy Official. Also see the Privacy Act of 1974 (Department of Justice).

For more detailed information on HHS privacy, see these topics below:

• HHS Privacy Policy Notice
• HHS Privacy Program
• Privacy Official Contacts
• Submitted Personal Information
• Interaction with Children On­line
• HHS on Third Party Sites
• Automatically Collected Infomation
• Cookies
• Website Security

HHS Privacy Program

It is the mission of HHS to enhance and protect the health and well­being of all Americans. HHS fulfills that mission by providing effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services. HHS recognizes the importance of protecting the personally identifiable information (PII) entrusted to us by millions of members of public and employees alike, and has built a robust Privacy Program to safeguard this information and ensure that Americans’ privacy rights are upheld.

System of Records Notices (SORNs)For a list of all of the Department’s systems of records visit the HHS SORNs page.

Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs)For a list of the Department’s System PIAs and Third­Party Websites and Applications PIAs see the HHS Privacy Impact Assessments page.

Matching Notices and AgreementsFor a list of the Department’s up­to­date matching notices and agreements see the HHS Computer Matching Agreements page.

Exemptions to the Privacy Act. For more information on the Department’s final rules published in the Federal Register that promulgate Privacy Act exemptions claimed for HHS’s systems of records, see the HHS Privacy Act page.

Privacy Act Implementation RulesFor a list of Privacy Act implementation rules promulgated pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552a(f), visit the HHS Privacy Act page.

Publicly Available Agency Policies on PrivacyFor a list of all publicly available HHS policies on privacy, including any directives, instructions, handbooks, manuals, or other guidance, visit:

• HHS OCIO Policies, Standards and Charters
• HHS Information Security and Privacy Program
• HHS Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) & Resources

Publicly Available Agency Reports on PrivacyFor a list of the Department’s publicly available privacy reports, see the HHS Plans & Reports page.

Instructions for Submitting a Privacy Act RequestFr instructions for individuals who wish to request access to or amendment of their records pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552a(d), visit the HHS “How to Make a Privacy Request” page.

Contact Information for Submitting a Privacy Question or ComplaintFor individuals who wish to submit a privacy­ related question or complaint, visit the HHS Privacy Act Contacts list.

Privacy Official Contacts

Department­level Privacy Contacts: The HHS Chief Information Officer (CIO) also holds the position of Senior Agency Official for Privacy (SAOP), ensuring privacy receives senior­level recognition and has visibility across the Department.

For HHS SAOP contact information, see:

Beth KilloranHHS Senior Agency Official for Privacy; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Technology; and Chief Information Officer (CIO). Phone: 202­690­6162 E­mail: beth.killoran@hhs.gov

For HHS Chief Privacy and Data Sharing Officer contact information, see:

Matthew OlsenHHS Chief Privacy and Data Sharing Officer; and Executive Director, OCIO Office of Privacy & Information Management. Phone: 202­260­0322 E­mail: Matthew.Olsen@hhs.gov

OpDiv Senior Officials for Privacy: Each OpDiv has, at a minimum, a Senior Official for Privacy (SOP) to oversee privacy compliance activities. For OpDiv SOP contact information, see:

Gary CochranAdministration for Children and Families (ACF) Phone: 202­401­6465 Email: Gary.Cochran@acf.hhs.gov

Jacques NewgenAdministration of Community Living (ACL) Phone: 202­795­7414 Email: Jacques.Newgen@acl.hhs.gov

Tim ErnyAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Phone: 301­427­1760 Email: Tim.Erny@ahrq.hhs.gov

Beverly WalkerCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Phone: 770­488­8524 Email: vhz4@cdc.gov

Emery CsulakCenters for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Phone: 410­786­8954 Email: Emery.Csulak@cms.hhs.gov

Cullen CowleyFood and Drug Administration (FDA) Phone: 301­796­3900 Email: Cullen.Cowley@fda.hhs.gov

James EllisHealth Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Phone: 301­443­6035 Email: JEllis@hrsa.gov

Heather H. McClaneIndian Health Service (IHS) Phone: 301­443­1116 Email: Heather.McClane@ihs.gov

Celeste Dade­VinsonNational Institutes of Health (NIH) Phone: 301­402­6201 Email: celeste.dade­vinson@nih.gov

Kamran KhaliqOffice of Inspector General (OIG) Phone: 202­205­9207 Email: SOP@oig.hhs.gov or Kamran.Khaliq@oig.hhs.gov

Julia WhiteOffice of the Secretary (OS) and Program Support Center (PSC) Phone: 301­945­5501 Email: Julia.White@hhs.gov

Ammar AhmadSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Phone: 240­276­0128 Email: Ammar.Ahmad@samhsa.hhs.gov

Submitted Personal Information

If you choose to provide HHS with personal information ­­ for example by completing a “Contact Us” form, leaving a comment, sending email, or completing a survey ­­ we may use that information to respond to your message and/or help us get you the information or services you requested. Submitting personal information (name, address, telephone number, email address, etc.) is voluntary and is not required to access information on our website.

We retain the information only for as long as necessary to respond to your question or request, in most cases no longer than three months. Information submitted electronically is maintained and destroyed as required by the Federal Records Act and records schedules of the National Archives and Records Administration. It may be subject to disclosure in certain cases (for example, if required by a Freedom of Information Act request, court order, or Congressional access request, or if authorized by a Privacy Act System of Records Notice). It is subject to the Privacy Act if maintained in a Privacy Act system.

For more information, see:

• Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act
• HHS System of Records Notices

Interaction with Children On­line

The Department will take all reasonable steps necessary to protect the privacy and safety of any child from whom information is collected, as required by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). A child’s parent or guardian is required to provide consent before HHS collects, uses, or shares personal information from a child under age 13.

Information and instructions will be provided by the specific Web page that collects information about a child. The Web page will specify exactly what the information will be used for, who will see it, and how long it will be kept.

HHS on Third Party Sites

We maintain accounts on third­party websites, such as social media sites, as tools to better interact with the public. The security and privacy policies of third­party websites apply to your activity on those sites. Users of third­party websites often share information with the general public, user community, and/or the third­party operating the website. You should review the privacy policies of all websites before using them and ensure that you understand how your information may be used. You should also adjust privacy settings on your account on any third­party website to match your preferences.

HHS Accounts

Common third­party website privacy policies used by HHS include:

• Google and YouTube Privacy Policy
• Facebook Date Use Policy
• Facebook Privacy Page
• Flickr Privacy Policy
• Linkedin Privacy Policy
• Pinterest Privacy Policy
• Twitter Privacy Policy
• Yammer Privacy Policy

Information Collected and Used from Third­Party Websites

If you have an account/profile with a third­party website, and choose to follow, like, friend, or comment on a third­party website managed by HHS, certain personal information associated with your account may be made available to us based on the privacy policies of the third­party website and your privacy settings within that website. We do not share personally identifiable information made available through these websites.

HHS conducts and publishes a Privacy Impact Assessment for each use of a third­party website. Each use of a third­party website may have unique features or practices. HHS sometimes collects and uses the information made available through third­party websites. To learn more, review the published assessments.

Automatically Collected Infomation

When you browse through our website, we use Google’s Universal Analytics (UA) software to gather and temporarily store a variety of information about your visit. However, this information cannot be used to identify you as an individual. The basic information we collect during your visit includes:

• The name of the domain you use to access the Internet (for example, Verizon.com, if you are using a Verizon online account, or stanford.edu, if you are connecting from Stanford University’s domain);
• The date and time of your visit to our website;
• The pages and documents you viewed on our website;
• The URL of the website you visited prior to ours;
• The type and version of your Web browser and operating system; and
• Your location at the time of your visit, down to the city­level

We do not associate any of the data we collect with you as an individual. Instead, we aggregate this data from all visits in order to improve our website and provide a better user experience to our visitors. The aggregate data is available only to Web managers and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties. It is retained only for as long as needed for proper analysis. The Google Analytics Privacy Policy is available at https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/

Cookies

Websites can automatically place small text files, known as “cookies,” on the computers of their visitors. So long as they do not expire or get deleted, cookies identify the unique browser used by the visitor. On each subsequent visit to the website, the visitor’s browser will retrieve the cookie, allowing us to the number of return visitors. HHS uses “cookies” to test and optimize our website design and content. We use two types of cookies on our websites:

• We use session cookies to gather data for technical purposes, such as improving navigation through our website and generating statistics about how the website is used. Session cookies are temporary text files that expire when you leave our website. When cookies expire, they are automatically deleted from your computer. We do not use session cookies to collect personal information, and we do not share data collected from session cookies.
• We use multi­session cookies, or persistent cookies, to customize our website for frequent visitors and to test variations of website design and content. Multi­session cookies are cookies that are stored over more than a single session on your computer. We do not use multi­session cookies to collect personal information, and we do not share data collected from multi­session cookies. Our multisession cookies are set to expire no more than two years after your last visit to our website. After two years, they are automatically deleted from your computer. HHS is unable to identify an individual by using such technologies.

You can take actions to block cookies by opting out . Blocking session cookies from your computer will not affect your access to the content and tools on our website. Blocking multi­session or persistent cookies may affect the personalization of the information on those sites.

Website Security

This site is maintained by the U.S. Government. It is protected by federal laws. You can be arrested and prosecuted for violating these laws.

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, we use software programs to monitor traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage. In the event of law enforcement investigations and as part of any required legal process, information from these sources may be used to help identify an individual.

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