MY MEDICAL SERVICES PRIVACY POLICY

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 eg staff training).

What personal information do we collect?

The information we will collect about you includes your:

  • names, 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 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 may collect your personal information in several different ways.

  • When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
  • During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information.
  • Information can also be collected through electronic transfer of prescriptions (eTP), My Health Record, eg via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary
  • 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.

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
  • your health fund, Medicare, or the Department of Veterans’ 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 (eg 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 (eg some diseases require mandatory notification)
  • during the course of providing medical services, through eTP, My Health Record (eg via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary).

Only people who 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.

We will not share your personal information with anyone outside 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 our electronic patient record.

Our practice stores all personal information securely. We store our records in electronic format with password protection. All staff working with My Medical Services sign confidentiality agreements

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 complete a form and this will be responded to within 15 business days. The form is available by emailing kurri@mymedicalservices.com.au

Our practice will charge a fee to provide a copy of your medical record to you, or to an alternative treating provider. You will be advised of this fee in writing at the time that you make your request.

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 requests in writing to the Practice Manager – kurri@mymedicalservices.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.

Complaints can be addressed to:

The Practice Manager
My Medical Services Kurri Kurri
203 Lang Street KURRI KURRI NSW 2327

Email: kurri@mymedicalservices.com.au

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 363 992. [You could also provide details to contact your relevant state or
territory health authorities/ombudsman, if they also have jurisdiction.]

Privacy and our website

When you visit our website (www.mymedicalservices.com.au) we record general information about your visit for statistical purposes. These statistics do not contain any Personal Information.

Certain information may be passively collected by Cookies, navigational data like Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) and third party tracking services, including:

  • Site activity information. We may keep track of some of the actions you take on the Platform, such as the content of searches you perform and the pages you navigate to.
  • Access device and browser information. When you access the Platform from a computer or other device, we may collect anonymous information from that device, such as your IP address, browser type, connection speed and access times.
  • Cookies. We use “Cookies” to store your preferences, record session information and collect information on how you visit and access our web pages. This helps us deliver and continue to improve our services. Cookies are small pieces of information that a web page transfers to your computer’s hard disk for record-keeping purposes. Cookies make the web more useful by storing information about your preferences on a particular site. Cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify you, only your computer. We may use both session Cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent Cookies to make the Platform and service easier to use, to make our advertising better, and to protect both you and Doctors on Demand. You can change settings in your browser to stop accepting Cookies or to prompt you before accepting a Cookie from the websites you visit. You can delete cookies from your computer at any time. However, if you do not accept Cookies, you will not be able to stay logged in to the Platform. For more information on Cookies please click here.
  • Mobile Services. We may also collect non-Personal Information from your mobile device or computer. Certain features of the Platform use GPS technology to collect real-time information about the location of your device. This information is generally used to help us deliver the most relevant information to you. Examples of information that may be collected and used include how you use the application(s) and information about the type of device or computer you use. In addition, in the event our application(s) crashes on your mobile device we will receive information about your mobile device model software version and device carrier, which allows us to identify and fix bugs and otherwise improve the performance of our application(s).
  • Google Analytics. We use Google Analytics to help analyse how users use the Platform. Google Analytics uses Cookies to collect information such as how often users visit the Platform, what pages they visit, and what other sites they used prior to
    coming to the Platform. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve our Platform and Services. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit the Platform, rather than your name or other
    Personal Information. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to the Platform is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy.