Privacy Policy

Pure Health Osteopathy: Our practice and your privacy

Privacy at a glance

The provision of safe and quality osteopathic care is our principal concern. This requires a strong relationship between the osteopath and the patient based on trust and confidentiality.

Pure Health Osteopathy regards your health as confidential. Your health information is handled in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988, the Australian Privacy Principles and the privacy provisions of all applicable legislation consistent with Commonwealth and State/Territory law.

This privacy policy covers all personal information we hold. That is, information, or an opinion about an individual, whose identity is apparent, or can be reasonably ascertained, from that information or opinion. This includes information we have collected from people through our office, over the phone and over the internet.

You are entitled to know what personal information is held about you; how and under what circumstances it may be disclosed; when consent is required for these purposes; and how it is stored.

Clinical records are stored and transmitted securely and safeguarded against loss or damage.

Access to your information

You have the right to access your information. You may ask to view the information or ask for a copy of a part or of the whole record. You are not required to give reasons, but you may be asked to clarify the scope of the request.

Often a request will need to be in writing. Access to some information may be limited in some circumstances, but in such an event we will advise you of the reasons.

At your request, your health information held by Pure Health Osteopathy will be made available to another health service provider.

Under the Privacy Principles, Pure Health Osteopathy may charge a reasonable fee if it incurs costs in providing access, particularly if records need to be copied.

If you find that the information held is not accurate or complete, you may have that information amended accordingly.

It is necessary for us to keep your health information for as long as is required by law (generally 7 years after your last consultation, but longer in some circumstances).  For children it is a further 7 years after they have turned 18 years of age.

Parents/guardians and children

Privacy laws apply to children as well as adults. Under the Privacy Guidelines, a child’s right to privacy of their health information may at times restrict access by parents/guardians to that same information.

We will inform you if we intend to transfer your clinical records to another osteopath or clinic, or if we sell or close this clinic. 

Opt– Out 

Users are provided with the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from us by reading the unsubscribe instructions located at the bottom of any e-mail they receive from us at any time. If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter or promotional material, you may opt-out of receiving these communications by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail.

Privacy Inquiries

If you have questions or concerns related to the privacy of your information direct them to the Practice Manager. Please contact our reception for details on how to do this.  If you have questions or you are dissatisfied, contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at 1300 363 992 or access further information via www.oaic.gov.au.

PRIVACY POLICY EXPLAINED

Collection, use, and disclosure of your health information

Osteopaths must keep clinical records. It’s a government requirement, and information about your medical and family health history is needed to provide accurate diagnoses and appropriate treatment.

We will only seek information that is relevant to your health. This information may include your name, postal or email address, health information or other personal information. This information is generally collected directly from you or otherwise with your consent. However, from time to time we may receive information from others (for example, X-ray images and referrals from other practitioners.

Why and when your consent is necessary

When you book online or attend your first and ongoing appointments as a patient at this practice, you provide consent for the osteopathic practitioner(s) 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.

Financial information collected during the purchase of a product or service such as credit card number and expiration date is used only to charge you for the product or service you are purchasing. It will never be given to any third party (other than the credit card authorization centre). 

We may use your personal information to let you know about, and/or develop products and services from Pure Health Osteopathy. We use VisitBase Clinical Software to enable online bookings and to store your medical records electronically. VisitBase’s Privacy Policy can be viewed here: https://visitbase.net/privacy-policy/.  Physitrack is our online exercise prescription application and its Privacy Policy can be viewed

here: https://www.physitrack.com/privacy

Information about you may be provided to Medicare or your private health insurer, where relevant, for billing and rebate purposes. This information generally does not include your detailed clinical records but may depend on the terms of your insurance policy.

There are circumstances where a health practitioner is legally required to disclose information. An example of this is a subpoena or other mandatory reporting requirements.

Generally, workers compensation and traffic accident schemes require patients treated under those schemes to agree their health information can be shared with the scheme and its insurers.​

What personal information do we collect?

The information we will collect about you includes:

.  names, date of birth, addresses, contact details

.  medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, social history, family history and risk factors.

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:

  1. When you attend your first appointment, the Osteopath will collect your demographic, personal, and health information via our registration form. All your information is stored on a secure platform called VisitBase clinical software.
  2. During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information. We may also collect information through Electronic Transfer such as radiography reports, and general practitioner or specialist letters/reports.
  3. 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.
  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:
  5. your guardian or responsible person
  6. other involved healthcare providers, such as specialists, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health services and pathology and diagnostic imaging services
  7. your health fund, Medicare, TAC, WorkSafe, and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (as necessary)

Who 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 (Australian Privacy Principles) 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 account keeping and billing purposes, including debt recovery
  • 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)

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.

How do we store and protect your personal information?

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 the practice in writing.

Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms including paper and electronic health records.

Our practice stores all personal information securely.  If there is a notifiable data breach that is likely to result in potential harm to individuals, we are legally obligated to notify the affected individuals and the OAIC.

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 and make this attention to the Practice Manager and our practice will respond to your request within a reasonable time.  There may be a fee for this service.

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 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 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 to the attention of the Practice Manager. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure.

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.

Policy review statement

This policy will be reviewed regularly, and updated terms will be made available at reception.