Source Health and Wellness privacy policy
Current as of: May 31, 2022
Introduction
This privacy policy is to provide information to you, our client, on how your personal information (which includes your health information) is collected and used, and the circumstances in which we may share it with third parties.
Why and when your consent is necessary
When you register as a client of Source Health and Wellness, you provide consent for Source Health and Wellness health practitioners to access and use your personal information so they can provide you with the best possible healthcare. Source Health and Wellness 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?
Source Health and Wellness will need to collect your personal information to provide healthcare services to you. The main purpose for collecting, using, holding and sharing your personal information is to manage your health. Source Health and Wellness also use it for directly related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, audits and accreditation, and business processes.
What personal information do we collect?
The information Source Health and Wellness 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
- healthcare identifiers
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?
Source Health and Wellness may collect your personal information in several different ways.
- When you make your first appointment Source Health and Wellness will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration and New Client intake Questionnaire.
- During the course of providing medical services, Source Health and Wellness may collect further personal information.
- Source Health and Wellness 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).
Source Health and Wellness does not utilise the Federal Government’s My Health Record system. If we move towards using this platform and you have a My Health Record we will access your Personal Information that we require to provide you our services.
When, why and with whom does Source Health and Wellness share your personal information?
Source Health and Wellness sometimes shares your personal information:
- with third parties who work with us for business purposes, such as laboratory companies with other healthcare providers such as General Practitioners and pyschologists 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)
Only people who need to access your information will be able to do so. Other than while providing medical services or as otherwise described in this policy, Source Health and Wellness 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.
Source Health and Wellness will not use your personal information for marketing any 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 Source Health and Wellness in writing.
Source Health and Wellness may use your personal information to improve the quality of the services we offer to our clients through research and analysis of our client data.
We may provide de-identified data to other organisations to improve population health outcomes. The information is secure, clients cannot be identified and the information is stored within Australia. You can let Source Health and Wellness 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 Source Health and Wellness in various forms.
Source Health and Wellness strives to maintain the reliability, accuracy, completeness and currency of your Personal Information. All Personal Information is stored securely to protect your privacy. Source Health and Wellness operate using electronic medical records and do not retain hardcopies of your medical or Personal Information. All Personal Information is stored electronically in a secure, encrypted hosted service maintained by IT professionals. Once your data is entered onto the medical software, all paper copies are securely destroyed. Any hardcopy of your Personal Information retained temporarily (eg: pending insertion into the electronic medical software or collection by you) are stored securely or shredded.
All Personal Information stored in electronic form is protected from unauthorised access, misuse, interference, loss, modification or disclosure. Some of the steps Source Health and Wellness take to ensure your Personal Information is secure include:
- Maintaining physical security over the premises
- Having internal processes and systems to protect your privacy
- Electronic records are hosted behind firewalls with business grade anti-virus and anti-malware software protection
- All data is regularly backed up on the operating server on site and on a separate server other than the “operating” server. All data is kept within Australia
- Source Health and Wellness IT professionals have a data breach response plan in place and our IT systems are fully maintained to ensure all software updates and licenses are current and that the integrity of our system’s security is maintained
- Source Health and Wellness risk management program is regularly reviewed to protect privacy.
Subject to applicable laws, Source Health and Wellness may destroy records containing personal information when the record is no longer required to be retained. Source Health and Wellness is required to abide by relevant legislation in the retention and disposal of your medical records.
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.
Source Health and Wellness acknowledges clients may request access to their medical records. We require you to put in a request via email and send directly to Source Health and Wellness and we will respond within 30 days.
Source Health and Wellness will not charge you for making the request, however a fee may be charged to cover reasonable costs for complying with your request. Such costs may include obtaining your consent, the time spent by Source Health and Wellness facilitating your request and transmitting your Personal Information. Please allow up to 30 days for us to respond to your request.
Source Health and Wellness 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 Source Health and Wellness correct or update your information, and you should make such requests in email to info@sourcehealthandwellness.com
How can you lodge a privacy-related complaint, and how will the complaint be handled by Source Health and Wellness?
Source Health and Wellness take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any privacy concerns you may have in email: info@sourcehealthandwellness.com. We will then attempt to action it within 30 days in accordance with our resolution procedure and complaint handling process.
You can contact Source Health and Wellness on:
Telephone: 0411479684
Email: info@sourcehealthandwellness.com
You may also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (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 email are linked to the internet. No data transfer over the internet is one hundred percent secure. Any form of electronic communication such as via a website, email, facsimile, telephone, mobile (this also applies to written/posted and verbal communications) are not without risks. Accordingly, any information which you transmit to Source Health and Wellness or which we transmit to you or to/from third parties via any of these methods is at your own risk.
As part of the Source Health and Wellness website, we may provide links to other websites, mobile applications or organisations, however, we are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by those websites, mobile applications or organisations. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by Source Health and Wellness through our website or health consultations. We encourage you to request/review the privacy statements of other websites, mobile applications or organisations before proceeding to use them.
Policy review statement
This Privacy Policy may be changed at any time following any legislative change or upon a review of our information handling processes. Source Health and Wellness reserve the right to update or amend this statement at any time. We will notify you of any updates via our website. The amended Privacy Policy will be effective on and from its uploading.
Source Health and Wellness Privacy Policy is available and can be obtained upon request.
If you have any queries, concerns or feedback regarding the Source Health and Wellness Privacy Policy, please contact: info@sourcehealthandwellness.com or phone 0411479684.