Privacy Policy
Seriously Chiropractic Privacy Policy
Updated as of: 15 JULY 2021
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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.
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Why and when your consent is necessary
When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for Seriously Chiropractic’s 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.
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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).
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What personal information do we collect?
The information we will collect about you includes your:
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names, date of birth, addresses, contact details
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medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history, and risk factors
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Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes
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healthcare identifiers
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health fund details
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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.
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How do we collect your personal information?
Our practice may collect your personal information in several different ways.
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When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
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During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information. These include a Patient Intake Form and a Patient Consent Form, both of which will be sent to you prior to the initial consultation.
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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.
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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:
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your guardian or responsible person
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other involved healthcare providers, such as specialists, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health services, and pathology and diagnostic imaging services
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your health fund, Medicare, or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (as necessary)
When, why, and with whom do we share your personal information?
We sometimes share your personal information:
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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
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with other healthcare providers
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when it is required or authorised by law (e.g., court subpoenas)
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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
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to assist in locating a missing person
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to establish, exercise, or defend an equitable claim
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for the purpose of confidential dispute resolution process
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when there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (eg some diseases require mandatory notification)
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during the course of providing medical services, through eTP, My Health Record (eg via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary)
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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.
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We will not share your personal information with anyone outside Australia (unless under exceptional circumstances that are permitted by law) without your consent.
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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.
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Our practice may use your personal information to improve the quality of the services we offer to our patients through research and analysis of our patient data.
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We may provide de-identified data to other organisations to improve population health outcomes. The information is secure, patients cannot be identified, and the information is stored within Australia. You can let our reception staff or email us at sebastian@seriouslychiropractic.com.au to know if you do not want your information included or distributed to other organisations for secondary use.
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How do we store and protect your personal information?
Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms. These include:
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Electronic patient records
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Paper patient records
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Visual records, including X-rays, CT scans, MRI, Ultrasound, and photos
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As part of our commitment to preserving the confidentiality of the information contained in your medical record, we advise that strict storage policies are observed in this practice. All reasonable steps are taken to prevent any unlawful interference with your electronic records, which are accessible only by staff of this practice and are protected by a security password.
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Any paper and visual records are uploaded to your digital account and the paper and physical copies are securely stored within locked cabinets located within the clinic that only licensed practitioners in the practice may access via metal key.
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In all forms of patient record storage, each member of staff is well versed in the principles and importance of doctor-patient confidentiality.
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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.
All patient information requests should be submitted in writing either via:
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email to Dr. Sebastian Cook at sebastian@seriouslychiropractic.com.au; or
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letter addressed to Dr. Sebastian Cook, Principal Chiropractor at Seriously Chiropractic, 1 Moffat ST, ORAN PARK, NSW 2570, marked “PRIVATE” and “CONFIDENTIAL.”
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Upon receipt, our practice will respond within 30 days via your chosen method of submission.
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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 that your personal information held by our practice is correct and current.
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You may also request that we correct or update your information, and you should make such requests in writing to either via:
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email to Dr. Sebastian Cook at sebastian@seriouslychiropractic.com.au; or
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letter addressed to Dr. Sebastian Cook, Principal Chiropractor at Seriously Chiropractic, 1 Moffat ST, ORAN PARK, NSW 2570, marked “PRIVATE” and “CONFIDENTIAL.”
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Upon receipt, our practice will respond within 30 days via your chosen method of submission.
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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. All privacy-related complaints should be submitted in writing either via:
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email to Dr. Sebastian Cook at sebastian@seriouslychiropractic.com.au; or
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letter addressed to Dr. Sebastian Cook, Principal Chiropractor at Seriously Chiropractic, 1 Moffat ST, ORAN PARK, NSW 2570, marked “PRIVATE” and “CONFIDENTIAL.”
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Upon receipt, our practice will respond within 30 days via your chosen method of submission.
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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.
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Should you be unsatisfied with our response to your privacy complaint, you may also lodge a written complaint with the NSW Privacy Commissioner or the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
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Privacy and our website
For each visitor to reach the site, we expressively collect, via the use of browser “cookies” and contact form, the following non-personally identifiable information, including but not limited to browser type, version and language, operating system, pages viewed while browsing the Site, page access times, and referring website address. This collected information is used solely internally for the purpose of gauging visitor traffic, trends, and delivering personalized content to you while you are at this Site.
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From time to time, we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change at some time in the future we will use them for these new purposes only, data collected from the time of the policy change forward will adhere to our updated practices.
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Policy review statement
Seriously Chiropractic reserves the right to make amendments to this Privacy Policy at any time. If you have objections to the Privacy Policy, you should not access or use the Site nor solicit the services of Seriously Chiropractic.
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This Privacy Policy will be reviewed regularly to ensure it is in accordance and compliance with any changes that may occur, both internally and with external providers, government agencies, and laws.
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In the instance of a change to this Privacy Policy, you will be notified in writing via email.