SUMMARY
This privacy policy covers Coastal Medical Imaging and all associated entities. The Privacy Act 1988 requires patients are informed of their rights relating to the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information.
PRIVACY STATEMENT
Coastal Medical Imaging is committed to providing quality health care for its patients. As a fundamental part of this commitment principals and staff of the practice recognise the importance of ensuring that our patients are fully informed and involved in their health care.
COLLECTION
As a part of our commitment to providing quality health care it is necessary for us to collect and disclose information to enable the provision of the diagnostic/ therapeutic imaging service requested by your referring practitioner.
Such necessary information may include:
- referral/procedural details;
- personal details (your name, address, date of birth, Medicare number);
- workers’ compensation/employment/accident information;
- your medical history;
- genetic information;
- billing/account details.
The information will be collected directly from you, however on occasions we may need to obtain information from other sources, for example:
- other medical practitioners, such as former GPs and specialists;
- other health care providers, such as physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, podiatrists, dentists, nurses;
- hospitals, screening/day surgery units.
Both our practice staff and our medical practitioners may participate in the collection of this information. In emergency situations we may need to collect personal information from relatives or other sources where we are unable to obtain your consent.
USE & DISCLOSURE
The practice staff will use and disclose your information for purposes such as:
- providing results to relevant practitioners;
- advice on treatment options;
- referral to another medical practitioner or health care provider;
- referral to a hospital for treatment and/or advice;
- sending of specimens for analysis;
- account keeping, billing purposes and recovery of monies;
- the management of our practice;
- quality assurance, practice accreditation, research and complaint handling;
- to meet our obligations of notification to our medical defence organisations or insurers;
- to prevent or lessen a serious threat to an individual’s life, health or safety;
- where legally required to do so, such as producing records to court, producing records to Medicare for audit purposes or the notification of diagnosis of certain communicable diseases.
ACCESS
You are entitled to access your own records at a time convenient to both yourself and the practice. Access can be denied where:
- to provide access would create a serious threat to life or health;
- there is a legal impediment to access;
- the access would unreasonably impact on the privacy of another;
- the information relates to anticipated or actual legal proceedings and you would not be entitled to access the information in those proceedings;
- in the interests of national security.
PROCESS
Where possible your request should be in writing, stating the year of service, type of service and at which of our branches the service was provided. All requests should be addressed as follows, regardless of where the procedure was performed:
The Privacy Officer
COASTAL MEDICAL IMAGING
PO Box 457
MOFFAT BEACH QLD 4551
Information will be provided within 30 days of receipt of your request. The method of providing this information will be determined by the Privacy Officer, however photographic identification may be requested. A charge may be imposed for processing the information. Should there be any inaccuracies in the information we have on file, we will record your corrections but may not erase the original record.
ANCILLARY ACTIVITES
Collection of Films: Should any patient wish their films to be collected by a friend or relative on their behalf, they will be required to present the correct “Authority to Collect” slip given to patient at time of the appointment. will only release records for collection by a specifically designated third party if this slip is presented.
Maintenance Personnel: For operational purposes, it is necessary to allow maintenance personnel access to our premises. However, only authorised personnel are allowed access to records.
Details: If we need to contact you for any reason and need to leave a message for you, it may be necessary for us to say where we are calling from. Please advise our reception staff immediately if you do not want us to do this. We may need to arrange alternate contact details.
Should you have any queries in relation to the above our staff are happy to address these for you.