Privacy Policy Iris

When used in this privacy policy, the term “personal information” has the meaning given to it in the Act. In general terms, it is any information that can be used to personally identify you. This may include your name, address, telephone number, email address and profession or occupation. If the information we collect personally identifies you, or you are reasonably identifiable from it, the information will be considered personal information. Our privacy policy covers all people who use our services or otherwise provide their personal information to us.

For  the purposes of this privacy policy,  no  distinction has been  made  between the handling of  personal information and sensitive information (as that term is defined in the Act); therefore  all  information  will be  referred   to  as  “personal information” throughout this document.

We may collect the following types of personal information:

• your name, address and telephone number;
• your age or date of birth;
• your Medicare number,  Veterans’  Affairs  number, Health  Care  Card number, health fund  details or pension number;
• current drugs or treatments used by you;
• information relevant to your medical care, including but not limited to your previous and current medical history and  your  family   medical  history  (where clinically relevant);
• your ethnic background;
• your profession, occupation or job title;
• the name of any health service provider or medical specialist to whom you are referred, copies of any letters of referrals and copies of any reports back; and
• any additional information relating to you that you provide to us directly  through our representatives, medical  or  allied  health  professionals  providing services   at  or  from  our   Centre,  Clinic  or  Call Centres, or otherwise.

We may also collect some information that is not personal information because it does not identify you or anyone else. For example, we may collect anonymous answers to surveys or aggregated information about how users use our website.

We collect your personal information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. When collecting personal information from you, we may collect it in ways including:

• by you completing one of our registration or patient information forms;
• as disclosed by  you   during  the   course   of  a consultation at our Centre, Clinic or Call Centres or
• through your access and use of our website.

We may also collect personal information from third parties including:

• information provided  on   your   behalf   with  your consent;
• from a health service provider who refers you to medical practitioners or allied health professionals providing services at or from our Centre, Clinic or Call Centres;
• from health  service  providers  to  whom  you  are referred;
• from your employer or prospective employer; or
• from third party bodies such as law  enforcement agencies and other government entities.

If you do not provide us with the personal information described above, some or all of the following may happen:

• we may  not  be  able  to  provide  the  requested services to you, either to the same standard or at all; or
• your diagnosis and treatment may be inaccurate or incomplete.

We collect personal information about you so that we can perform our business activities and functions and to provide the best possible quality of service to you.

We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:

• to provide medical services and treatment to you, and to  enable  you  to  be  attended  by  medical practitioners or other  allied health professionals at our Centres, Clinics or Call Centres;
• for administrative and billing purposes;
• to update our records and keep your contact details up to date;
• to process and respond to any complaint made by you;
• to comply with any law, rule, regulation, lawful and binding determination,  decision  or  direction  of  a regulator, or in co-operation with any governmental authority of any country;
• for the  purposes  of  data  research  and  analysis including   conducting   clinical trials  and  proactive screenings  and  for  the  purpose  of  sending  you direct   marketing   communications   in   relation  to these;
• for inclusion in  a recall register  to be  advised  of follow up visits and medical updates;
• for the purpose of reporting back to your employer or prospective     employer,     their     authorised representatives  and their insurer in the case of a work-related consultation or service;
• to answer  enquiries  and  provide  information  or advice about existing and new products or services and all matters relevant to the services we provide to you;
• to conduct business processing functions including providing personal information to our related bodies corporate, contractors,  service  providers  or  other third parties;
• for the  administrative, marketing (including  direct marketing),      planning,     product     or      service development, quality control and research purposes
• to meet obligations  of notification  to our  medical defence organisations or insurers.

Your personal information will not be shared, sold, rented or disclosed other than as described in this Privacy Policy or as permitted under the Act.

We may disclose your personal information to:

• our employees, our medical professionals and allied health practitioners who provide medical services to you at   our   Clinic,    related    bodies   corporate, contractors or service providers for the purposes of operation of our business, fulfilling requests by you, and to otherwise provide products and services to you   including,   without    limitation,   web    hosting providers,    IT    systems   administrators,    mailing houses, couriers,  payment processors, data entry service providers, electronic network administrators, debt collectors,  and professional advisors such as accountants,    solicitors,   business   advisors   and consultants;
• suppliers and other third parties with whom we have commercial relationships, for business, marketing, and related purposes;
• your employer   or   prospective   employer,   their authorised representatives and their insurer  in the case of a work-related  consultation or service; and
• any organisation  or  person  for  any  authorised purpose with your express consent.

We may  combine  or share any information that we collect from  you with information  collected  by  any of our  related bodies corporate (within Australia).

We may send you direct marketing communications and information about our products and services that we consider may be of interest to you. These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, SMS, fax and email, in accordance with all applicable marketing laws, such as the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). If, in your dealings with us, you indicate a preference for a method of communication, we will endeavour to use that method whenever practical to do so.

In addition, at any time you may opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us by contacting us or by using opt-out facilities provided in the marketing communications and we will then ensure that your name is removed from our mailing list.

You may request access to any personal information we hold about you at any time by contacting us. Where we hold information that you are entitled to access, we will try to provide you with suitable means of accessing it (for example, by mailing or emailing it to you). We may charge you a fee to cover our administrative and other reasonable costs in providing the information to you and, if so, the fees will be as advised from time to time. We will not charge for simply making the request and will not charge for making any corrections to your personal information.

There may be instances where we cannot grant you access to the personal information we hold; however, we will only do so in accordance with our rights and obligations under the Act. For example, we may need to refuse access if granting access would interfere with the privacy of others or if it would result in a breach of confidentiality. If that happens, we will give you written reasons for any refusal.

If you believe that personal information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you may send us a written request us to amend it, including the basis on which you are requesting the amendment. 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.

If you believe that your privacy has been breached, please contact us in accordance with the arrangements set out below and provide details of the incident so that we can investigate it.

Our  procedure  for  investigating  and  dealing  with privacy breaches is for the incident or complaint to be dealt with in the  first  instance  by  the  particular  Centre,  Clinic  or  Call Centre at which you received our services.

In relation to medicals and consultations procured or requested by our overseas clients, we may disclose your personal information to these clients in their countries of operation. We do not otherwise disclose your personal information to overseas recipients. In the event that we would like or are required to do so, we will obtain your consent.

We take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We may hold your information in either electronic or hard copy form.

Personal information is destroyed or de-identified when no longer needed.

As our website is linked to the internet, and the internet is inherently  insecure,  we  cannot  provide   any  assurance regarding  the security  of  transmission  of  information  you communicate  to us online.  We also cannot guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted  over  the  internet.  Accordingly,  any  personal information or other  information which  you transmit to us online is transmitted at your own risk.

Our website may contain links to other websites operated by third parties. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the privacy practices of any third party website and we are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of any third party website. Third party websites are responsible for informing you about their own privacy practices.

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, any concerns or a complaint regarding the treatment of your privacy or a possible breach of your privacy, please contact the Centre, Clinic or Call Centre at which you received our services.

We will treat your requests or complaints confidentially. Our representative will contact you within a reasonable time after receipt of your complaint to discuss your concerns and outline options regarding how they may be resolved. We will aim to ensure that your complaint is resolved in a timely and appropriate manner.

If you are unable to contact the Centre, Clinic or Call Centre at which you received our services, you may contact us by using the following details:

Iris Family Medicine

1486 High Street

Glen Iris

Ph: 03 9509 2144 Fax: 03 9509 2166

We may change this privacy policy from time to time. Any updated versions of this privacy policy will be posted on our website.

This privacy policy was last updated on 22 May 2016.