Privacy Policy 1998 (amended)
Introduction
Queensland X-Ray respects and upholds your rights to privacy protection under the National Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988. The National Privacy Principles apply to us from their introduction on 21 December 2001.
This policy describes how we manage any personal information we have about you.
What Personal Information About You Does Queensland X-Ray Hold?
Queensland X-Ray may hold the following information about you:
- name, address, telephone number(s)
- date of birth
- e-mail address
- occupation
- health information
- general practitioner
- referring doctor
- returned service organisation
- pensioner or health care card holder
- Medicare number
- transaction details associated with services we have provided to you
- any additional information provided to us by you
- any information you provided to us through patient /referrer surveys
- Queensland X-Ray will destroy or de-identify personal information after its legal obligations to retain the information have expired.
How is Personal Information Collected?
Where possible, Queensland X-Ray collects your personal information directly from you.
However, personal information may also be collected by us from other sources. For example, we may collect personal information about you from your referring doctor or other health care provider.
What Does Queensland X-Ray do with your Personal Information?
We use personal information about you:
- to provide medical treatment and care to you
- to provide information to medical practitioners, registered nurses and other allied health professionals who provide treatment, necessary follow up treatment and ongoing care
- to assist with any calls you make to us
- for our internal administrative requirements; including for management purposes, funding, service monitoring, planning, evaluation and accreditation activities
- to process private health fund claims and billings
- for internal procedure reporting (information used is in a de-identified form)
- to provide data in both an identified and de-identified form to State and Federal Government agencies in compliance with numerous legislative requirements (e.g. BreastScreen, Cancer Council, National Health and Medical Research Council)
- for quality assurance or clinical audit activities where we seek to evaluate and improve the delivery of a particular aspect of our service
- for complaint handling and defence of anticipated or existing legal activities
- to our insurers, brokers, lawyers and other experts for the purposes of addressing liability indemnity arrangements or to obtain advice as to our legal or other obligations
- for planning and evaluation of accreditation activities with our professional bodies such as RANZCR
- for provision to you of further information about advances in radiology and treatment options
if lawfully instructed to reveal information and with your consent:
- to communicate special events
- for media announcements
- to conduct marketing research
- for research and teaching
- for training and education.
Queensland X-Ray will not disclose personal information about you to any person, except on a confidential basis to agents that we use in the ordinary operation of our business, such as for data processing, printing or mailing.
You may at any time opt out of receiving any communications from us (other than as required for the operation of our business, e.g. regarding payment of your account). Notification in writing of this option would be appreciated.
Disclosure of Personal Information to Third Parties
In certain circumstances, we may disclose personal information to third parties.
We may disclose personal information to your referring doctor, general practitioner and other health service providers, in providing medical treatment and care to you. We may also disclose personal information to other institutions for purposes directly associated with your treatment. For example, we may provide personal information to your health fund for billing, processing of private health fund claims, and audit purposes.
Sometimes we are required by law to disclose your personal information. For example, we may disclose your personal information to a Court in response to a subpoena, or to a party to litigation in response to a document called a "notice of non-party disclosure".
As your privacy is paramount to us and to ensure that your personal information is not released to third parties pursuant to notices of non-party disclosure requests (unless required by law) we engage lawyers, at our cost, to ensure that these requests are in fact valid and that only the necessary information that is required to be produced, is in fact produced. To ensure your privacy, if it is our view that the requested information sought is not directly relevant to the litigation or need not be produced by law, we will object to producing such record unless ordered by the Court.
Where you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent or you physically cannot communicate consent to disclose, we may disclose personal information to a responsible person (as defined in the Privacy Act) if disclosure is necessary to provide appropriate care or treatment to you or for compassionate reasons - provided that disclosure is not contrary to any wish you may have expressed prior to becoming unable to communicate consent.
Where necessary, we may disclose personal information to contractors or agents that we may engage for the purposes set out in item 4 above. For example, personal information may be disclosed to IT contractors in upgrading or fixing IT problems with our computer systems. We may disclose personal information to RANZCR or other professional bodies for accreditation purposes. However, we will not release any personal information without first ensuring that it is necessary and that the third party also has privacy compliance systems in place.
Storage
Queensland X-Ray stores personal information:
- contained in paper based and other hard copy documents located securely within the practice. All practices have security alarms which are in operation outside business hours;
- contained in electronic records in a secure environment; and
- archived to a dedicated storage facility.
- Such records are only accessible by those persons who require access to the personal information for the purpose of carrying out their employment activities.
Openness and Access
You may request access to personal information we hold about you by completing a Request to Access Patient Record Form. If you wish to access the records please contact the Privacy Officer, who will arrange for the appropriate Request for Access form to be provided to you. Where we hold information that you are entitled to access, we will endeavour to provide you with a suitable range of choices as to how you may access the record - such as allowing you to personally inspect the record, take notes or copy the record, or you may request us to forward a copy of the record to you. We will endeavour to process any request for access within 30 days of having received your request. We are entitled by law to charge you a reasonable fee for collating, copying and providing you with access to the records.
Queensland X-Ray may refuse access to records in a number of circumstances. If we deny your request for access to personal information then we will give you our reasons for denial in writing.
If you believe that personal information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you may request amendment of it. We will consider if the information requires amendment. If we do not agree that there are grounds for amendment, then we will add a note to the personal information stating that you disagree with it.
Any questions about this policy, or any complaint regarding treatment of your privacy by Queensland X-Ray, should also be made in writing to the address below.
The Privacy Officer
Queensland X-Ray
1985 Logan Road
Upper Mt Gravatt, QLD 4122
Phone: 07 3343 9466
Fax: 07 3343 7055
Email: admin@qldxray.com.au
Miscellaneous
In this policy "personal information" and "health information" have the same meaning as under the Privacy Act.
We regularly review our policies and procedures to keep up to date with best practices and changes in the law and technology. As a result, we may change this policy from time to time. This Privacy Policy was last updated on 21 December 2001.
Website Conditions of Use
Your use of this Web site is subject to the following terms and conditions. By accessing this Web site, you acknowledge that you have read and accept these terms and conditions.
Disclaimer
These materials have been prepared by Queensland X-Ray for informational purposes only and are not medical advice. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, a doctor-patient relationship. Internet subscribers and online readers should not act upon information without seeking professional medical advice. Do not send us confidential information until you speak with one of our doctors and get authorisation to send that information to us.
This Web site, and all information available on or accessed through this site, is provided "as is". Queensland X-Ray makes no warranties, representations, or claims of any kind concerning the information presented on or through this site, including, without limitation, warranties or merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.
Your use of this Web site is at your own risk. The materials presented on this site may not reflect the most current medical use. These materials may be changed, improved, or updated without notice. Queensland X-Ray is not responsible for any errors or omissions in the content of this site or for damages arising from the use or performance of this site under any circumstances.
Privacy Policy for Visitors to the Queensland X-Ray Website
Queensland X-Ray (QXR) respects and upholds your rights to privacy protection under the National Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988. This Policy describes how we manage any personal information we may have about you.
When you access our website, QXR's Internet Service Provider webcentral.com.au records certain information. No cookies are generated by this site.
De-identified information we retain
- Your server address
- Data and time of your visit to the site
- The pages you accessed and documents downloaded from our site
- The previous site you visited
- The type of browser you are using
- The operating system you are using
- De-identified information is used to monitor usage patterns on our site. Analysis of usage can help QXR improve navigation and design of our website, thus helping you to obtain information more efficiently.
QXR will collect the information sent about you via our "Contact Us" page. Information provided by you will only be used for its original intended purpose and not for any marketing activity, nor will it be passed to any other agency without your consent, unless required by law.
From time to time Queensland X-Ray may send you information related to advances in radiology imaging, treatment options or changes to Queensland X-Ray work practices. You may at any time opt out of receiving any communications from us. Notification in writing would be appreciated.
Information passed over the Internet brings with it inherent insecurity. Queensland X-Ray therefore recommends that in the interests of protecting your privacy, no personal health information be transmitted via the Internet. Security of personal health information transmitted in this manner can not be guaranteed.
Queensland X-Ray reserves the right to regularly review its polices and procedures to keep up to date with best practices and changes in the law and technology. As a result, we may post a new policy on this site from time to time.
Please direct any comments or questions regarding this Privacy Policy to the Privacy Officer.
For further information concerning this Web site, please contact the web manager on email: webmanager@qldxray.com.au
(c) 2007 Queensland X-Ray. All rights reserved.
Queensland X-Ray claims a copyright in all proprietary and copyrightable text, graphics, and computer code on this Web site, the overall design of this site, and the selection, arrangement, and presentation of all materials on this site, including information in the public domain. You may view, copy, download, or print any materials on this site for non-commercial and informational purposes only. All other uses of the materials on this site are strictly prohibited, including, but not limited to, any modification of the materials on this site.