The Federal Privacy Act incorporates 10 National Privacy Principle (the NPPs) that set out the rules for the handling of personal information in the private sector. In the interest of providing quality health care PathLab Integrative Medicine has developed a privacy policy that complies with the privacy legislation and the NPPs.
This privacy policy outlines how we manage personal information. It also describes the sorts of information we hold and why, as well as how that information is collected, held, used and disclosed.
It is necessary for us to collect personal information from patients and sometimes others associated with their health care in order to attend to their health needs and for associated administrative purposes.
Individuals from whom we collect personal information include:
If an individual is acquiring or has acquired a product or service from PathLab Integrative Medicine, we will collect and hold their personal information to:
The information collected may include an individual's:
We will, if reasonable and practicable to do so, collect personal information directly from the individual concerned.
This may take place when the individual fills out documents such as an application form or an administrative form
or when the individual gives us personal information in person, or over the telephone and/or through electronic medium.
In certain circumstances, we will collect personal information from third parties.
For example, we may need to collect personal information from:
A patient's personal information is used or disclosed for the purposes directly related to their health care and in ways that are consistent with a patient's expectations.
A patient's personal information is used or disclosed for the interest of quality and continuity of health care, to providers who may comprise a patients' specialist practitioner and other related health care providers.
In addition there are circumstances when information has to be disclosed without patient consent such as:
Other relevant organisations may include:
Also, we may need to disclose an individual's personal information to their representatives (e.g. their authorised personal representatives or their legal advisers).
In general, a patient's health information will not be used for any other purposes without their consent.
PathLab Integrative Medicine takes reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information it collects, uses or discloses is accurate, complete and up-to-date.
We store personal information in different ways, including paper and electronic form. The security of personal information is important to us, and we take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse or loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Some of the ways we do this include:
PathLab Integrative Medicine has a culture of openness and has available this document clearly expressing our policies on the management of personal information. This document is available on our web site at www.pathlabim.com.au or in printed format from any of our Laboratories or Accredited Collection Centers. Alternatively you may call our head office number on 03 8831 3000 and request a copy be mailed to you.
Patients may request access to their personnel health information held by this company.
These are the numbers, letters or symbol that are used to identify patients with or without the use of a name (e.g. Medicare numbers). We limit the use of identifiers assigned to patients by Commonwealth Government agencies to those users necessary to fulfill our obligations to those agencies.
A patient has a right to be dealt with anonymously, provided this is lawful and practical. However, in the medical context this is not likely to be practicable or possible for Medicare and insurance rebate purposes. It could also be dangerous to the patient's health.
Individual's privacy is protected Australia-wide by privacy laws. We will take steps to protect patient privacy if information is sent interstate or outside Australia.
Health information is 'sensitive information' for the purposes of privacy legislation. This means that generally patients' consent will be sought to collect health information that is necessary to make an accurate medical diagnosis. This is in most cases provided by the referring practitioner.
Individuals who believe that we have breached their privacy rights in any way or wish to discuss any issues about our privacy policy should contact our Supervising Pathologist.
We will try to satisfy any questions and correct any errors on our part.
If the individual is dissatisfied the Federal Privacy Commissioner, whose details are below, handles complaints.
Further information about an individual's privacy rights can be obtained from the Federal Privacy Commissioner's Office at:
Federal Privacy Commissioner's Office
Level 8 Piccadilly Tower, 133 Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW 2000 or GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 1042.
If you would like more information about privacy in general, please refer to the Privacy Commissioner's website: www.privacy.gov.au
Individuals may ask any questions about privacy and the way we manage personal information or write to us requesting access to personal information by writing to the Supervising Pathologist, PathLab Integrative Medicine, 68 Burwood Hwy, Burwood Victoria 3025