PRIVACY
OF HEALTH INFORMATION POLICY – FOREST LAKE LOCAL DOCTORS
This privacy policy is to provide information our patients on
how your personal information, (which includes your health information), is
collected and used within out practice and the circumstances in which we may
share it with third parties.
Why and when your consent is
necessary.
When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide
consent for our GP’s and practice staff to access and use your personal
information so they can provide you with the best possible
healthcare. Only staff you need to see your personal information
will have access to it. If we need to use your information for anything
else, we will seek additional consent from you to do this.
Why do we collect, use hold and
share your personal information?
Our practice will need to collect your personal information to
provide healthcare services to you. Our main purpose for collecting,
using, holding and sharing your personal information is to manage your
health. We also use it for directly related business activities, such as
financial claims and payments, practice audits and accreditation, and business
processes (e.g. Staff Training.)
What person information do we
collect?
The information we will collect about you includes:
·
Name/s, date of birth,
addresses, contact details
·
Medical information including
medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social
history, family history and risk factors
·
Medicare number (where
available) for identification and claiming purposes
·
Healthcare identifiers
·
Health fund details
Dealing with us anonymously
You have the right to deal with us anonymously or under a
pseudonym unless it is impracticable to do so or we are required or authorised
by law to only deal with identified individuals.
How
do we collect your personal information?
Our practice will collect your personal information:
1.
When you make your first
appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic
information via your registration.
2.
During providing medical
services, we may collect further personal information. The information may be
collected through Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions, My Health record
uploads/access to Shared Health summaries, and/or Event Summaries.
3.
We may also collect your
personal information when you visit our website, send us and email or SMS,
telephone us, make an online appointment or communicate with us using social
media
4.
In some circumstances, personal
information may also be collected from other sources. Often this is because it
is not practical or reasonable to collect it from you directly. This may
include information from:
·
Your guardian or responsible
person
·
Other involved healthcare providers
such as a specialist, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health
services and pathology and diagnostic imaging services.
·
Your health fund, Medicare, or
the department of Veterans Affairs (as Necessary)
When, why and with whom do we
share your personal information with?
We sometimes share your personal information:
·
With third parties who work with
our practice for business purposes, such as accreditation agencies or
information technology providers – these third parties are required to comply
with APPs and this policy
·
With other healthcare providers
·
When it is required or
authorised by law (e.g. court subpoenas)
·
When it is necessary to lessen
or prevent serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or public
health or safety, or it is impractical to obtain the patients consent
·
To assist in locating a missing
person
·
To establish, exercise or defend
and equitable claim
·
For confidential dispute
resolution process
·
When there is a statutory
requirement to share certain personal information (e.g. Some diseases require
mandatory notification)
·
During the course of providing
medical services, through electronic systems (eTP,
MyHealth Record (eg via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary).
Only people that need to access your information will be able to
do so. Other than in the course of providing medical services or as
otherwise described in the policy, our practice will not share personal
information with any third party without your consent.
We will not share your personal information with anyone outside
of Australia (unless under exceptional circumstances that are permitted by law)
without your consent.
Our practice will not use your personal information for
marketing any of our goods or services directly to you without your express consent.
If you do consent, you may opt-out of direct marketing at any time by notifying
our practice in writing.
Our practice may use your personal
information to improve the quality of the services we offer to our patients
through research and analysis of our patient data.
We may provide de-identified data
to other organisations to improve population health outcomes. The information
is secure, patients cannot be identified and the information is stored within
Australia. You can let our reception staff know if you do not want your
information included.
How do we store and protect your
personal information?
Your
personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms. All
patient records are electronic in nature and all correspondence into our
practice is scanned into the patient record. X-Rays, Ultrasound and other
radiology images are held in a secure folder/s
until collection by the patient. Our practice stores all personal
information securely. Once incoming correspondence is
scanned it is shredded immediately.
Our practice stores all personal information securely. We
keep health information for a minimum of 7 years from the date of the last
entry in the patient record (unless the patient was a child in which case
records must be kept until the patient attains or would have attained 25 years
of age.) This is because we are required to maintain such records under some
laws.
Because of the sensitive nature of the information collected by
us to provide our services, extra precautions are taken to ensure the security
of that information. Our electronic files are password protected on
several levels, and the computer back up tapes are stored securely, with
further security codes. We have firewalls installed on our main server
and our anti-virus protection is current and up to date.
We require all our employees and contractors to observe
obligations of confidentiality during their employment/contract. We require
independent contractors to sign a confidentiality undertaking.
How can you access and correct
your personal information at our practice?
You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your
personal information.
Our practice acknowledges patients may request access to their
medical records. We require you to put this request in writing or by
email to admin@forestlakelocaldoctors.com.au and our practice will aim to
respond to you within 5 business days.
Our practice will take reasonable steps to correct your personal
information where the information is not accurate or up-to -date. From time to
time, we will ask you to verify that your personal information held by our
practice is correct and current. You may also request that we
correct or update your information, and you should make such request in writing
to our practice admin or email to admin@forestlakelocaldoctors.com.au
How can you lodge a privacy-related
complaint, and how will the complaint be handled at our practice?
We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy
seriously. You should express any privacy concerns you may have in
writing. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our
resolution procedure. Please address any complaints to:
Dr San Shuen Ku
Forest Lake Local Doctors
2 Rawle Street, Camira 4300 QLD
Phone: 07 2111 9111
Fax: 07 2111 9100
Email: admin@forestlakelocaldoctors.com.au
We will aim to respond to your complaint and/or concern within
14 days to discuss your concerns and endeavour to resolve the matter to your satisfaction.
You may also contact the OAIC. Generally, the OAIC will require
you to give them time to respond, before they will investigate. For
further information visit www.oaic.gov.au or
call the OAIC on 1300 336 002.
Privacy and our website
To improve your experience on our website, we may use cookies.
Cookies are an industry standard ad most major websites use them. A
cookie is a small text file to remember your preferences, you may refuse the
use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. Our
website may contain links to other websites. Please be aware that we are
not
responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites.
When you go to other websites from here, we advise you to be aware and read
their privacy policy.
Policy Review Statement
This Privacy Policy is reviewed and updated regularly to ensure
it incorporates and reflects any changes within the practice and state and
national legislation. Changes to this privacy policy will be notified to
our patients by updating our website version, and will be available at our
reception area.