Your Doctors Privacy Policy
Timeline of document changes
2021 November
(1) Changed complaints address from the general practice address to a more secure PO box only accessible by practice management:
Practice Manager at Your Doctors
PO Box 316
Summer Hill NSW 2130
(2) Changed reviews of this policy from being "regular" to "annually" and added a review date.
(3) Added section "What is a Patient Health Record?".
(4) Added section "Document automation technologies that can access your personal information"
2021 October
(1) Added paragraph:
We occasionally 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, they can tick "opt out of de-identified data extraction" in your patient profile on our medical software.
(2) Changed "Privacy and our website (yourdoctors.com.au)" to reflect the small amount of information kept about visitors to our site, necessary for website technical operations.
(3) Added line to policy review statement:
2. The policy text on our website will be edited to reflect the new policy
You can access the full version of our privacy policy online at yourdoctors.com.au/privacy or by asking one of our reception staff to print out this web page for you.
Your Doctors Privacy Policy
Current as of November 2021
Next review date: November 2022
Introduction
This privacy policy is to provide information to you, our patient, on how your personal information (which includes your health information) is collected and used within our 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 GPs and practice staff to access and use your personal information so they can provide you with the best possible healthcare. Only staff who 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 personal information do we collect?
The information we will collect about you includes:- Names, date of birth, address/es, 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
What is a Patient Health Record?
A patient health record is a collection of all of the medical and relevant personal information about an individual that is held by the practice. This record is the property of the practice, however patients may request a copy of their records. This may incur an administrative fee.
Dealing with us anonymously
You have the right to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym unless it is impracticable for us to do so or unless 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:- When you make and/or arrive for your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration with us.
- During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information.
- We may also collect your personal information when you visit our website, send us an email or SMS, telephone us, make an online appointment or communicate with us using social media. Information can also be collected through Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (eTP), MyHealth Record/PCEHR system (e.g. via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary).
- 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 specialists, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health services and pathology and diagnostic imaging services
- Medicare or the Department of Veteran's Affairs (as necessary).
When, why and with whom do we share your personal information?
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 a serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or public health or safety, or it is impractical to obtain the patient’s consent
- To assist in locating a missing person
- To establish, exercise or defend an equitable claim
- For the purpose of 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 Transfer of Prescriptions (eTP), MyHealth Record system (e.g. 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 this policy, our practice will not share personal information with any third party 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 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 occasionally 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, they can tick "opt out of de-identified data extraction" in your patient profile on our medical software.
How do we store and protect your personal information?
Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms, e.g. as paper records, as electronic records, as visual (X-rays, CT scans, videos and photos)
Our practice stores all personal information securely. Our computer system is appropriately secured by the use of firewalls and antivirus software. Software used within the practice is protected by multiple levels of passwords known only to staff of the practice. Confidentiality agreements have been signed by all staff and contractors.
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 to your treating doctor and our practice will respond within a reasonable time (generally within 30 days). A minimal fee to cover costs of complying with your request (e.g. photocopying cost) may be charged.
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 up-to-date. You may also request that we correct or update your information, and you should make such requests in writing to your doctor or the practice manager.
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, addressed to:Practice Manager at Your Doctors
PO Box 316
Summer Hill NSW 2130
We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure: We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint as soon as practical and advise you of the steps to be taken regarding the means of resolving the issue.
You may also contact the OAIC (Office of the Australian Information Commissioner). 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 (yourdoctors.com.au)
We do not use cookies or analytics services on our website.
Our practice and our web hosting provider collect a small and necessary amount of information when you visit our website. This information includes your IP address, time of access, web browser version and list of pages on our website visited. These details are typically referred to as "HTTP access logs" and it is extremely difficult to operate a website without collecting this information.
- Determining if certain pages or links on our website are broken.
- Detecting and mitigating attacks against our website (including DDOS attacks).
- Determining the popularity of certain pages on our website.
- Other technical operations related to the running of our website.
Document automation technologies that can access your personal information
We use automation technologies that can access your personal information, including:
- Referral templates. When a doctor writes a referral for you to visit another medical specialist, some of your personal medical information is automatically extracted from your records and added to the referral documents. Different templates are used for different referral types and circumstances, extracting the specific medical information appropriate to the addressed specialist.
- Automated reminders. Our medical software searches our database of medical records for important upcoming events (such as specific, important appointments) and sends automated SMS messages.
- E-report delivery software. Blood analysis, medical imaging, medical practices and other medical institutions that a patient visits for tests or procedures will send us medical reports about the patients. These are automatically assigned to our doctors for review or manually flagged for administrative intervention if any personal details are incorrect or dubious (eg misspellings in patient names or birthdate).
- De-identified and anonymised study scripts. See "When, why and with whom do we share your personal information?" for more information.
Policy review statement
This privacy policy will be reviewed annually to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur. If an amendment takes place then:- A sign at reception will be installing notifying of the updated policy, and
- The policy text on our website will be edited to reflect the new policy