Peninsula Heart Centre Privacy Policy

Peninsula Heart Centre is committed to best practice in relation to the management of patients’ information. The practice has a policy to ensure patient privacy that complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘the Privacy Act’).

This privacy policy is to inform you about how your personal and health information is collected and used within our practice and the circumstances in which we may share it with third parties.

What personal information do we collect?

Our main purpose for collecting information is to provide our patients with high quality cardiac care. We also use it for directly related business purposes such as financial claims and payments.

The type of information we may require:

Your name, address, date of birth, email, phone and contact details
Next of kin and emergency contact.
Medicare number, DVA number, private health insurance details
Full medical history
Family medical history
Medical test results and investigations
Medical images
Specialist reports, operation reports and previous correspondence
GP/referring doctor and treating specialists’ details
Other information required for your treatment.

How do we collect personal information?

Peninsula Heart Centre will obtain personal information via:

Patient registration form
During the course of providing medical services
Telephone conversation
Email contact
From a person you have authorised as a contact
External referrals, medical reports and related correspondence
Other healthcare providers, such as specialists, hospitals, pathology and diagnostic imaging services.
Third parties such as Medicare and your health insurer.

How do we use and disclose personal information?

Peninsula Heart Centre use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:

To provide a comprehensive health service to you
To enable accessible communication with you.
To comply with our legal obligations in the healthcare setting
To help us manage our accounts and administrative services,
To collaborate and communicate with all health professionals involved in your care
To liaise with health insurance funds, government bodies such as Medicare and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs
Participation in research or clinical trials if eligible for involvement.

If eligible for involvement in a clinical trial or research that requires identification separate formal consent would be obtained prior to use of any information.

Your personal information will not be used for direct marketing.

Accessing and updating your personal information?

We encourage you to contact us if you believe the information, we hold about you is not accurate, complete or up to date, i.e., change of address, phone number, health fund etc.

Our practice will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information. 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.

In accordance to the Freedom Of Information Act 1982, you have the right to make a written application for access to your medical record and personal information held by Peninsula Heart Centre. Subject to the exceptions set out in the Privacy Act 1998(Cth) we will facilitate access where reasonable and practicable to do so.

Requests for copies of medical records need to be made in writing and presented in person at our main office with photo identification to assure privacy.

There may be an administrative cost for processes such as photocopying, printing and time of staff.

We will normally respond to your request within 30 days.

How do we secure your information?

Peninsula Heart Centre staff are trained and understand medical confidentiality and the requirements to respect and protect your privacy. We take all reasonable steps to protect information held from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure to unauthorised parties.

Our patient information and medical records are stored electronically. Access to this information is password protected and person/user specific.
Our document retention and destruction policies require that any hard copy information be kept in a locked cabinet. All documents will be scanned into our electronic database and destroyed using confidential waste or shredding.
On commencement of employment all staff are required to read and sign our Privacy Policy and are educated regarding the importance of privacy.
The buildings and offices are secured with appropriate locks and security systems.
Any personal information shared with third parties that assist in the provision of our services, are sent in a secure, encrypted format ie.Argus email.
Computer systems are protected by firewalls, virus protection, intrusion detection and passwords which are routinely changed.

Privacy related questions and complaints

If you have any questions relating to the management and handling of your personal information or have concerns about a privacy related issue please contact:

Practice Manager
Peninsula Heart Centre
Suite 11, 525 McClelland drive, Frankston 3199
03 9789 0088

Updates to this Policy

This Policy will be reviewed as required to ensure we maintain currency with the regulations surrounding patient information, privacy updates, changes in technology and our practice operations.