Century Health Care has developed a policy to protect your privacy in compliance with privacy legislation. Our policy is to inform you:

1.      What personal information is being collected;

2.      Who is collecting your personal information;

3.      How your personal information is being used;

4.      To whom your personal information is being disclosed; and

5.      How your personal information is being stored.

We collect information that is necessary and relevant to provide you and your family with medical care and treatments and to manage our medical center. This information includes your name, address, date of birth, contact numbers, and Medicare number. Other personal information, particularly health information and from other sources such as treating specialists, radiologists, pathologists, hospitals and other health care providers who are external from the medical center. We may also collect data to help us better understand your needs in relation the services we offer.

We collect information in various ways, such as in writing, over the phone, in person in our medical center, over the internet. The information may be collected by medical and non-medical staff. In case of emergency, we may also collect information from your relatives, carers or friends. Sometimes, your health information is received from other health service providers. It will be placed on your records. Examples of this information are letters from specialists, results from pathology providers or reports from radiologists.

If there is a change in your contact details, please let us know so we can update your information accordingly. Your medical record is a confidential document. It is the policy of Century Health Care Medical Center to maintain security at all times and to ensure that this information is only available to authorized members of our team. We abide by the Australian Privacy Principles and the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 and relevant State and Territory Legislation.

By attending our Century Health Care Medical Center, you consent to your personal information being collected, stored and used in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the Policy and Procedure Guideline of our medical centre.

Medical Records and Privacy

Our records are stored in electronic format on our computer servers. Our data is securely backed up on a daily basis. Confidentiality of our information can be assured, in line with relevant laws and guidelines. We keep our records for at least 7 years after your last visit and we will maintain medical records of children and adolescents until they turn 25 years of age, whichever is greater.

If you transfer care to another doctor, we will provide a summary to your new doctor if you move away (an administration fee will be charged). We require your written inform and consent to release your medical records before this can occur.

We will not transfer your personal information to an overseas recipient unless we have your consent or we are required to do so by law.

Online Privacy

Information Collected

When you look at our web site, our Internet Service Provider may make a record of your visit and logs the following information for statistical purposes:

1.      Domain or top level domain name (eg: practice.com, .gov, .au, etc)

2.      The date and time of your visit to the site

3.      The pages you accessed and documents downloaded

4.      The type of browser you are using, and

5.      Other useful visitor statistics.

This non-identified information is used to monitor usage patterns on our site in order to improve navigation and design features – helping you to get information more easily.

Access to information collected

We will not make an attempt to identify users or their browsing activities. However, in the unlikely event of an investigation, a law enforcement agency or other government agency may exercise its legal authority to inspect our Internet Service Provider’s logs, and thus gain information about users and their activities.

Use of information collected

We will only collect your e-mail address if you send us a message. Your e-mail address will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it, and it will not be added to a mailing list or used for any other purpose without your consent. We may however, use your e-mail address to contact you to obtain your consent for other purposes, but will give you the option of having your address deleted from our records at that time.

Personal Health Information

In the interests of your privacy, and given the inherent insecurity of information passed over the Internet, we do not currently support the transmission of personal health information to or from our patients over the Internet. If you send any personal health information to us via the Internet, we cannot guarantee its security.

Cookies

Our web site only uses session cookies and only during a search query of the web site. Upon closing your browser, the session cookie set by this web site is destroyed and no personal information is maintained which might identify you should you visit our web site at a later date.

Use and Disclosure

We will treat your personal information as strictly and confidential. We only use or disclose it for purposes directly related to your care and treatment. Our health service providers share necessary information with other treating team members such as doctors, nurses, allied health professional, specialists to deliver optimum patient care to you. The use and disclosure of your personal information is already bound by codes of practice of their professions.

We hold your personal information (including health information) to enable us to provide medical services to you including collecting fees, charges, bills, dealing with Medicare etc . It also allows us to implement management of our medical center, including service monitoring, quality assurance activities, evaluation and accreditation activities, complaint handling and to fulfil all legal and other regulatory requirements.

We will not disclose your personal information to any third party, except in some special circumstances. These circumstances where we may be permitted or required by law to disclose your information to third parties are requests, inquiries or orders by Medicare, Police, Insurers, Solicitors, Government regulatory bodies and agencies, Tribunals, Courts or similar proceedings. We may also from time to time provide non-identified health information, statistical data to third parties for research purposes.

Access your personal information

On request, you may have access to your personal information held by our medical center. We request that you put your request in writing and we will endeavour to respond to it within reasonable time and provide the requested information within 30 days. There may be a fee and administrative costs incurred of retrieving and providing you with a copy of your medical records, such as administration time, photocopying and postage handling.

We may deny access to your records in certain circumstances permitted by law, under Privacy Act. For examples:

1. If disclosure may pose a serious threat to your health and safety or of another individual.
2. If disclosure may prejudice an investigation of possible unlawful activity or may prejudice enforcement of laws.
3. If your request for access is vexatious or frivolous or it may pose an adverse impact on the privacy of another individual.

If your access is denied, we will inform you the reasons and options you have to respond to our decision.

Corrections of your personal information

If you believe that the personal information we have about you is inaccurate, incomplete or not up-to-date, please let us know and if we agree, we will rectify and correct it for you accordingly. If the information you allege is incorrect and we do not agree with you about the information you allege, we will put a statement of what you allege is correct, so the information will be kept and accessed by our authorised staff and treating team members.

Complaints

If you have a complaint about the privacy of your personal information, we request that you can contact us in writing. Upon receipt of a complaint, we will endeavour to resolve the matter in accordance with our complaints handling procedures. If you are dissatisfied with our handling of your complaint or the outcome, you may make an application to the Privacy Commissioner in your State or Territory.

Currency of Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time. If any change, we will issue the varied policy term and we will make the new policy available to all patients at the front reception counter of the medical centre.

Contacts

If you have any queries or complaints with regard to your medical information, please contact:

Practice Manager at Century Health Care Medical Centre

374 Gaffney Street

Pascoe Vale, Vic 3044

Tel: 03 9350 5601

Fax: 03 9354 7836

Disclaimer

Century Health Care complied with all relevant local, state, national and international laws. The information provided on our website is general in nature and for the purposes of engaging with our existing and potential clients. Century Health Care makes no representation about the content and suitability of provided information on its website for any other purpose and, where and to the extent, permitted by law, disclaims all warranties (express and implied) with regard to its information. In no event shall Century Health Care, its contractors or agents be liable for any damages whatsoever (including direct, indirect and consequential) in connection with this website or information provided.