Website tracking pixels on Wellstar Health System pages may have handed Google and Meta more than six years of patient data, and the Georgia system is now paying $4.5M to end the resulting class action. The deal in Doe v. Wellstar Health System resolves claims filed in federal court in Atlanta in April 2024 over tracking tools added to the system’s sites without users’ knowledge.
Wellstar, a Marietta-based operator with more than 400 care locations across Georgia, denies the allegations and any wrongdoing, saying it settled to avoid the time, expense, and uncertainty of continued litigation. Plaintiffs said the tracking exposed personally identifiable information and protected health information to Alphabet and Meta Platforms and ran afoul of laws including the federal wiretap statute.
Covered individuals are those whose information was disclosed to third parties through the tracking tools between February 19, 2020, and July 22, 2026. Class members split what remains of the fund after attorneys’ fees, administration costs, and service awards, with any leftover cash going to the Good Samaritan Health Center of Cobb. Claims must be submitted by November 10, 2026, and a fairness hearing is set for December 1. The deal follows the separate $1.76M pixel tracking settlement Cone Health reached with its own patient class earlier this month.
