Current as of: 01/07/2024

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.

Protecting the Privacy of your Personal and Sensitive Information

Privacy Policy

Armstrong Health is committed to ensuring the privacy and confidentiality of your personal information in accordance with its obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act) and other privacy laws. This privacy policy is to inform you about how Armstrong Health handles your personal and health information.

Your personal and health information

Personal information under the Privacy Act is defined as ‘information or an opinion about an identified individual, or a reasonably identifiable individual:

– whether the information or opinion is true or not; and

– whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not’

Armstrong Health collects personal information, such as your name, address, phone number, email address, date of birth, gender and emergency contact information. Armstrong Health also collects financial information such as credit card details.

Armstrong Health collects ‘health information’ as defined under the Privacy Act, including information about your health or disability (at any time), your medical records (including for example your clinical history, diagnoses, medications, results of tests/procedures and other circumstances), billing information, Medicare number, insurance details, and genetic information and could be held in any form, including paper, electronic and visual information. 

Armstrong Health will always seek your informed consent should real-time audio/visual recording, duplication and storage of a consultation, including those via telehealth and those conducted remotely occur. As a general rule however, we do not routinely make any type of audio/visual recording of consultations.

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 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. 

What happens if we can’t collect your personal information?

If you do not provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to provide or provide to the same standard the services requested by you and/or your diagnosis and treatment may be inaccurate or incomplete.

How we handle your personal information?

Armstrong Health, as a private sector health service provider, is required to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act. The APPs regulate how we may collect, use, disclose and store personal information and how individuals may access and correct personal information which we hold about them.

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? 

Armstrong Health collects and uses your personal information with your consent and will obtain that information from you directly, unless it is unreasonable or impractical to do so, for the purpose of providing you with the health care services you seek.

Your personal information is collected by Armstrong Health from you in the following ways:

– When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.

– During providing medical services, we may collect further personal information.

– Our Practice also participates in following eHealth services and personal information may also be collected through electronic transfer of prescriptions (eTP), My Health Record, e.g., 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 collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:

– to enable the healthcare practitioners and other allied healthcare professionals co-located within and external to our facilities to provide medical services and treatment to you;

– to enable the healthcare practitioners and other allied healthcare professionals co-located within and external to our facilities to provide specialist referrals; Only relevant and necessary information is recorded in referrals.

– to enable the health care practitioners and other allied health professionals co-located within and external to our facilities to report to referring practitioners and any such other medical practitioners as your referring healthcare practitioners may nominate;

– to enable the health care practitioners and other allied health professionals within our facilities to input information into your ‘My Health Record’ as required;

– for administrative and billing purposes;

– to comply with any legal or regulatory obligations;

– to send appointment reminders (including by SMS or email);

– for inclusion in a recall register to be advised of follow-up visits;

– for the purpose of reporting back to your employer or a prospective employer, their authorised representatives and their insurer in the case of a work-related consultation or service; with your signed consent

– to provide notifications (including by mail, telephone call, SMS or email) from time to time, of the health care and clinical services that you or a dependent can access at our medical centre;

– to process and respond to any complaint made by you;

– to meet obligations of notification to our medical defence organisations or insurers.

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 
• 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). 

For storage of the data by a contractor engaged to provide storage services to Armstrong Health, including a cloud storage service provider. Our agreements with such contractors require that they keep your personal information confidential, and that they only use or disclose your personal information for the purposes of providing those goods or services to us.

Your personal information will not be shared, sold, rented or disclosed other than as described in this Privacy Policy or as permitted under the Privacy Act.

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. 

How do we store and protect your personal information? 

Your personal information may be stored at our practice in the form of electronic records. Our practice does not keep any paper records. Armstrong Health stores all personal information securely. 

All the personal information is stored in electronic format, in a protected information system which is password protected. We also have confidentiality agreements for staff and contractors accessing that information.

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.

Armstrong Health acknowledges patients may request access to their medical records. We require you to put this request in writing and either email or mail a signed request to our practice and our practice will respond within 30 days. The practice may have to charge fees to cover the printing or downloading costs and cost for admin time that may be associated with providing this information.

Armstrong Health 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 our Practice Manager at [email protected] 

How do we use document automation technologies?

The privacy of your personal and health information is of the utmost importance to Armstrong Health. Armstrong Health utilises a secure medical records software system which meets all the relevant legal requirements and standards. 

The word processing application of the medical records software system uses algorithms that will only import personal and health information that is necessary for the particular application such as referrals and medical certificates. The medical records software system has the appropriate level of security authentication protocols and all necessary unique user access credentials are in place to ensure security integrity.

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. 

You can contact us at [email protected] 

731-739 Barwon Heads Road, Armstrong Creek, VIC 3217 

03 5211 4891 

We endeavour to respond promptly to your complaints but it may take up to 30 days. 

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. 

Privacy and our website 

Our Website and Facebook page is a means to provide information about our services. We do not collect any personal information through that and would request to avoid posting any personal information or queries through that. As with all other personal information acquired by our practice, all personal information is treated as per the Australian Privacy Principals under the Privacy Act 1988. Our website email contact form is not encrypted. There are potential privacy risks in the use of unencrypted email and as such we cannot take responsibility for personal information you may send to us through this service if it is intercepted. Use of this email service is at your own risk.

Policy review statement 

This privacy policy will be reviewed regularly to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur. Patients will be notified via social media and information displayed at the clinic of any changes that occur.