Patient information privacy statement.
Empower Paediatrics takes patient privacy seriously
In addition to our professional and ethical obligations, at a minimum, our Practice handles your personal information in accordance with federal and state privacy law. This includes complying with the federal Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) forming part of the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth) and the Victorian Health Privacy Principles (HPPs) forming part of the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic).
More information about the APPs and HPPs can be found on the Australian Information Commissioner’s website www.oaic.gov.au or in hard copy on request from our Practice reception.
Collection of information
The Practice collects and holds personal information about you so that we may properly assess, diagnose, treat and be proactive in your health care needs.
The type of personal information we collect may include:
personal details (name, address, date of birth, Medicare number);
your medical history;
notes made during the course of a medical consultation;
referral to other health services providers;
results and reports received from other health service providers and
credit card or direct debit information for billing purposes.
Wherever practicable, we will collect this information from you personally – either at the Practice, over the phone or via written correspondence.
In some instances, we may need to collect information about you from other sources such as referring doctors, treating specialists, pathology, radiology, hospitals or other health care providers.
Use and disclosure
Your personal information will only be used or disclosed for purposes directly related to providing you with quality health care, or in ways you would reasonably expect us to use it in order to provide you with this service.
This includes use or disclosure to the professional team directly involved in your health care, including treating doctors, pathology services, radiology services, other specialists and allied health providers outside this medical practice. For example, this may occur through referral to other health care providers when requesting medical tests or in the report or result returned to us following the referrals; to the Practice’s administrative staff for billing and other administrative tasks necessary to run our practice. Our staff are trained in the handling of personal information in accordance with the
Practice Privacy Policy;
to your health insurance fund, Medicare, TAC, DVA, Workcover, Workcover insurers or other organisations responsible for the financial aspects of your care; where required by law, for example, pursuant to a subpoena; to insurers or lawyers for the defence of a medical claim.
Our practice does not disclose your personal information to overseas recipients.
Information Quality
We aim to ensure the information we hold about you is accurate, complete, up to date and relevant. To this end our staff may ask you to confirm that your personal details are correct when you attend a consultation. It is your obligation to let us know if any of the information we hold about you is incorrect or not up to date.
Storage
Our Practice takes all reasonable steps to protect the security of the personal information we hold, by securing our premises within the Cabrini Mother Baby Centre (Malvern); shredding paper data and results; we do not store hard copies of any results/correspondence on site; using passwords on all electronic systems and databases and varying access levels to protect electronic information from unauthorised interference, access, modification or disclosure.
Access to your personal information
Under law you have a right to access personal information we hold about you. Please contact our Practice Manager for more information on our Access to Medical Records Policy.
We ask that you put your request in writing. A fee for the retrieval and copying of your medical record will apply, charged in accordance with the schedule of fees specified in the Health Records Regulations 2008 (Vic), plus GST. This fee is not redeemable through Medicare.
Amendment of your personal information
If you consider the information we hold about you is not correct, please contact the Practice in writing. You have the right to have any incorrect information corrected.
What happens if you choose to withhold your personal information?
You are not obliged to give us your personal information. However, if you choose not to provide the Practice with the personal details requested, it may limit our ability to provide you with full service or proper medical care. We encourage you to discuss your concerns with our reception staff prior to your consultation or with your doctor. In certain circumstances, we may not be able to provide care to you at all if you do not provide us with information we request.