The Fertility Pod
Current as of: 2 May 2023
Introduction
The Fertility Pod is committed to best practice in relation to the management of information we collect.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. We have developed the policy to protect patient privacy in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘the Privacy Act’).
Why and when your consent is necessary
When you register as a patient and provide information to The Fertility Pod, you provide consent for our practitioners 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 access it.
If we need to use your information for anything else, like marketing, we will either ask you directly for your expressed consent, or provide you with an opportunity to say no. To withdraw your consent for us to contact you, for the continued collection, use, or disclosure of your information at anytime by contacting us or unsubscribing from any of our marketing correspondence.
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.
What kinds of personal information do we collect?
The type of information we may collect and hold includes:
- Your name, address, date of birth, email, and other contact details
- Health information about you, including:
- Medical history and allergies
- Notes of your symptoms or diagnosis and the treatment given to you
- Specialist reports and test results
- Medications, supplements, and herbs
- Family history and genetic information
- Your appointment and billing details
- Your healthcare identifiers and health fund details
- Any other information about your race, sexuality or religion, when collected by a health service provider
How do we collect and hold personal information?
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, telehealth appointment, telephone conversation, email, registration form, or online form
- from a person responsible for you (your guardian or responsible person)
- 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, allied health professionals, diagnostic centres, specialists, hospitals, electronic prescription services, Medicare, your health insurer, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
- On our website (anonymous data is collected for analytics only)
Why do we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information?
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 communicate with you via marketing or to provide important updates to you regarding The Fertility Pod
- 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 clinic management system
- for consultations with other practitioners or doctors involved in your healthcare
- to obtain, analyse, and discuss test results from diagnostic and pathology laboratories
- for identification and insurance claiming
- 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
- 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
- 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
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.
We will not share your personal information with anyone outside Australia (unless under exceptional circumstances that are permitted by law) without your consent.
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.
How do we store and protect your personal information?
Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms:
- paper records
- electronic records, including, but not limited to, treatment notes, diagnostic results, and visual records
Our practice stores all personal information securely.
- password protections applied,
- access to personal information restricted on a ‘need to know’ basis’,
- paper files kept in lockable cabinets,
- digital information is held in secure and encrypted cloud storage
- our staff and contractors sign confidentiality agreements
How can you access and correct your personal information?
You have a right to seek access to, and correction of, the personal information which we hold about you. A charge may be payable where the practice incurs a cost in providing access. This is for administrative or staff costs.
The Fertility Pod 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 we correct or update your information, and you should make such requests in writing.
For accessing or correcting your health record, please contact our practice as noted below under ‘Contact Details’. We will normally respond to your request within 30 days.
Anonymity and pseudonyms
You have the right to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym when dealing with our practice, except in certain circumstances, such as where it is impracticable for us to deal with you if you have not identified yourself. However, in the health context this is likely to be impractical.
Privacy related questions and complaints
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 in writing to (see below for details). We will normally respond to your request within 30 days.
If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may refer the matter to 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, call the OAIC on 1300 363 992, or email them on enquiries@oaic.gov.au.
Privacy and websites
We use Google Analytics to measure website use and improve your experience of our website and our communications. For example, we use this information to:
- find out when our systems aren’t working as expected
- understand user needs and what’s hard to use on our online services and applications
- learn where we can streamline services
- cater for different types of browsers and devices you use
- develop relevant support information to help you interact with us, and
- improve our ability to assist stakeholders when they contact us for help.
Google Analytics transmits website traffic data to Google servers in the United States of America (USA). Google Analytics does not identify individual users or associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. We use reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage.
When you use our website, Google handles your information in the manner described in Google’s Privacy Policy. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google.
Our website may also contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites. When you go to other websites from here, we advise you to read their privacy policies.
Social media
We use digital platforms (including Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn) to communicate with the public about our work. When you communicate with us using these services we may collect your personal information for the purpose of engaging with and understanding community views.
Digital platforms handle your personal information for their own purposes and may conduct analytics in accordance with their own privacy policies. You can access these policies at Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn)
Updates to this Policy
This 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 Fertility Pod website (www.thefertilitypod.com.au)
Contact details for privacy related issues
Name: Julie Vecera
Phone: 03 9348 2867
Email: info@thefertilitypod.com.au