Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to information collected through the public website of Michael Ghermezi, MD, including information you voluntarily submit through the website and certain information collected automatically when you visit the website.

This website provides information regarding Michael Ghermezi, MD, including his professional background, pain management services, research, publications, patient education, and related professional and medical information.

This website is separate from the clinical operations and medical records of California Back and Pain Specialists. Information collected in connection with medical care, including patient intake information, medical records, diagnoses, imaging, treatment information, and billing records, may constitute Protected Health Information (“PHI”) and is governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) and other applicable federal and state laws.

If you become a patient of California Back and Pain Specialists, information collected in connection with your medical care may constitute Protected Health Information (“PHI”) and is governed by applicable federal and state privacy laws and the practice's Notice of Privacy Practices.

We collect two general categories of information through this website: information that you voluntarily provide and information that may be collected automatically when you use the website.

This website may use cookies, analytics tools, and similar technologies to operate the website, understand how visitors use it, evaluate website performance, and improve website content and functionality.

Cookies are small files or pieces of information that may be stored on your device when you visit a website.

Analytics services may collect information such as browser and device information, pages viewed, referring sources, approximate geographic information, and interactions with the website.

If Google Analytics or other Google services are used on this website, Google may collect and process certain information regarding website activity in accordance with Google's applicable privacy practices.

You may generally control or disable cookies through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies or technologies may affect some website functionality.

Information collected through this website may be used to:

• Respond to questions and inquiries
• Facilitate appointment requests and patient intake through California Back and Pain Specialists
• Communicate with individuals who contact us
• Provide information regarding available services
• Understand how visitors find and use the website
• Determine which pages, services, and educational topics visitors find useful
• Improve website content, functionality, and performance
• Maintain the security and integrity of the website
• Detect and prevent fraud, misuse, or security threats
• Comply with applicable legal obligations
• Respond to lawful governmental, regulatory, or judicial requests

Information submitted through this website is not used to make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning you.

Information collected through this website may be disclosed to a limited number of parties when reasonably necessary to operate the website, respond to inquiries, or comply with applicable law.

These parties may include:

• California Back and Pain Specialists, for inquiries submitted through the Contact form, including patient intake, scheduling, and communications regarding services
• Website hosting and technology providers, which may provide hosting, security, website functionality, maintenance, and related technical services
• Email and communications providers, which may process communications generated through the website
• Analytics providers, if analytics services are enabled, for purposes of understanding website traffic, performance, and usage

Information may also be disclosed when reasonably necessary or required by law, including in response to a valid subpoena, court order, governmental request, regulatory inquiry, or other lawful process.

Information may also be disclosed when reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property, safety, or security of Michael Ghermezi, MD, California Back and Pain Specialists, website visitors, or others.

We do not sell personal information that you submit directly through this website.

We also do not knowingly share personal information submitted through the Contact form for cross-context behavioral advertising.

To the extent applicable California privacy law provides a right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, you may submit a request using the contact information provided below.

This website is intended to provide general professional, medical, and educational information. Information provided on this website is not intended to substitute for individualized medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Use of this website or submission of a Contact form does not, by itself, establish a physician-patient relationship with Michael Ghermezi, MD or California Back and Pain Specialists.

Information submitted through the Contact form is forwarded to California Back and Pain Specialists for purposes that may include responding to inquiries, scheduling, and facilitating patient intake.

The public Contact form is not intended for the submission of detailed medical information or medical records.

If you become a patient or otherwise provide Protected Health Information in connection with medical care, the collection, use, disclosure, and protection of that information may be governed by HIPAA, applicable California law, and the applicable Notice of Privacy Practices.

Do not use this website or its Contact form for medical emergencies or urgent medical concerns. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 or seek immediate medical attention.

Personal information collected through this website is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.

Information submitted through the Contact form may be retained in applicable email, communications, or intake systems for purposes of responding to and documenting the inquiry.

Website analytics information may be retained according to the settings and retention practices of the analytics services used by this website.

Server and security logs may be retained for an appropriate operational period for website administration, troubleshooting, security, fraud prevention, and related purposes.

Information subsequently collected in connection with medical care may be subject to separate medical-record retention requirements and is addressed separately from this website Privacy Policy.

California residents may have certain rights regarding their personal information under applicable California privacy laws, including, where applicable, the California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act (“CCPA/CPRA”).

Depending on the circumstances and applicability of those laws, these rights may include:

These rights are separate from rights that patients may have under HIPAA and California law concerning their medical records and Protected Health Information. Those rights are addressed in the applicable Notice of Privacy Practices.

To submit a request concerning personal information collected through this website, please contact us using the information provided in the Contact Us About Privacy section below.

Please describe the nature of your request and provide sufficient information for us to identify the information to which your request relates.

We may need to verify your identity before processing certain requests. Information requested for verification will be proportionate to the nature of the request and sensitivity of the information involved.

Where required by applicable law, requests will be addressed within the legally prescribed time period.

Where permitted by law, an authorized agent may submit a request on your behalf. Additional information may be requested to verify your identity and confirm the authorized agent's authority to act on your behalf.

This website is intended primarily for adults seeking information regarding medical services for themselves or others.

This website is not directed toward children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13 through this website.

If you believe a child under the age of 13 has submitted personal information through this website, please contact us so that appropriate steps can be taken.

This website may contain links to third-party websites, including medical practices, professional organizations, medical publications, research resources, educational resources, and other external websites.

We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their content, availability, security, or privacy practices.

You should review the privacy policies of third-party websites before providing personal information to them.

Reasonable administrative and technical safeguards are used to help protect personal information collected through this website.

However, no method of transmitting information over the Internet or storing information electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

To help keep the website and the Contact form available to genuine visitors, submissions are screened by Google reCAPTCHA, which may process technical information about your visit as described in Google's applicable privacy practices, and we keep a temporary record of submissions made from the same connection, keyed to a hashed rather than raw IP address, solely to limit repeated automated submissions. This security-related request information is short-lived and is not used to identify you or for any other purpose.

For this reason, please do not submit detailed medical records, Social Security numbers, financial account information, or other highly sensitive personal information through the website Contact form.

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in website functionality, information practices, technology, or applicable legal requirements.

When changes are made, the “Last Updated” date at the bottom of this Privacy Policy will be revised.

We encourage visitors to review this Privacy Policy periodically for information regarding our privacy practices.

If you have questions regarding this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise any applicable privacy rights, or have questions regarding information submitted through this website, please contact:

Privacy-related inquiries may also be submitted through the Contact page of this website.

Last Updated: October 6, 2026