Our practice is committed to best practice in relation to the management of information we collect. This practice has developed a policy to protect patient privacy in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (‘the Privacy Act’) and the Australian Privacy Principles. Our policy is to inform you of:

• the kinds of information that we collect and hold, which, as a medical practice, is likely to be ‘health information’ for the purposes of the Privacy Act;
• how we collect and hold personal information;
• the purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information;
• how you may access your personal information and seek the correction of that information;
• how you may complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with such a complaint;
• other specific requirements around mandatory reporting or sharing of deidentified health data

The type of information we may collect and hold includes:

• Your name, address, date of birth, email and contact details
• Medicare number, DVA number and other government identifiers, although we will not use these for the purposes of identifying you in our practice
• Your ethnicity, sex assigned at birth and gender identity, as these may be related to your health care
•  Other health information about you, including:
• notes of your symptoms or diagnosis and the treatment given to you
• your specialist referrals, reports and test results
• your appointment and billing details
• your prescriptions and other pharmaceutical prescriptions
• your genetic information
• your healthcare identifier any other information about your race, sexuality or religion, when collected by a health service provider.

We will generally collect personal information:

• from you directly when you provide your details to us. This might be via a face-to-face discussion, a telehealth conversation, registration form or online form
• from a person legally responsible for you
• from third parties where the Privacy Act or other law allows it – this may include, but is not limited to: other members of your treating team, diagnostic centres, specialists, hospitals, the My Health Record system, electronic prescription services, Medicare, your health insurer, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

In general, we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:

• to provide health services to you
• to communicate with you in relation to the health service being provided to you
• to comply with our legal obligations, including, but not limited to, mandatory notification of communicable diseases or mandatory reporting under applicable child protection legislation.
• to help us manage our accounts and administrative services, including billing, arrangements with health funds, pursuing unpaid accounts, management of our systems
• for consultations with doctors and allied health practitioners involved in your healthcare;
• to obtain, analyse and discuss test results from diagnostic and pathology laboratories
• for identification and insurance claiming
• If you have a My Health Record, to upload your personal information to, and download your personal information from, the My Health Record system
• Information can also be disclosed through an electronic transfer of prescriptions service
• To liaise with your health fund, government and regulatory bodies such as Medicare, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) (if you make a privacy complaint to the OAIC), as necessary.

You have a right to seek access to, and correction of the personal information which we hold about you. Fees for this service are not covered by Medicare.  Please check with our reception team to discuss further.

You may also make a request to access and correct your health record by contacting our practice under ‘Contact Details’. Please note, to make this request you will be required to provide proof of identity.

We will normally respond to your request within 7 days.

Our staff are trained and required to respect and protect your privacy. We take reasonable steps to protect information held from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

This includes but is not limited to:

• Password protection
• Access to personal information restricted on a ‘need to know’ basis
• The use of encrypted electronic methods to transfer your health       information where available
• All health care practitioners and medical clinic team members have signed confidentiality agreements

If you have any questions about privacy-related issues or wish to complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles or the handling of your personal information by us, you may lodge your complaint to us. If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may refer the matter to the OAIC:

Phone: 1300 363 992 Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au Fax: +61 2 9284 9666
Post: GPO Box 5218

Sydney NSW 2001 Website: https://www.oaic.gov.au/individuals/how-do-i-make-a-privacy-complaint

We may disclose your personal information to the following overseas recipients:

• any practice or individual who assists us in providing health services (such as where you have come from overseas and had your health record transferred from overseas) 
• or where you have treatment continuing from an overseas provider or
• anyone else to whom you authorise us to disclose it

Our Privacy Policy will be reviewed from time to time to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and other necessary developments. Updates will be publicised on the practice’s website.

Information collected through our online booking platform may be used in the following ways:

• sending periodic emails or SMS with general or individualised health promotion information
• emails or SMS to request you make an appointment with your doctor for follow up
• emails or SMS to remind you of an appointment

Where you have contacted us through our website or social media platforms, we may contact you if required.

You may unsubscribe at any time.

Personal health information is required to be shared with 3^rd parties to assist in patient care, practice payments, population health measures, research, policy and planning. All data shared with 3^rd parties is de-identified and this is done in accordance with the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Secondary use of de-identified patient health information may occur in the broader Australian Health system such as data collected for PIP-Quality Improvement or the My Health Record system. These government bodies are bound by the Privacy Rule of the HIPAA, the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles.

Third parties may include:

• Medicare
• Local primary health networks
• Government bodies
• My Health Record
• Health Services such as Smart Vax
• Health booking and appointment platforms
• Other health providers involved in health initiatives that require data to track outcomes
• GP Training Programs

If you do not want your de-identified patient health information shared with 3^rd parties, please advise our reception team.

Contact our practice management team if you have any issues relating to our privacy policy or the handling of your personal information. Email your concerns to hdrummond@qmsclinic.com.au or telephone on 9233 4800.