Bawrunga Medical Services is committed to best practice in the management of information we collect. We have developed this policy to protect patient privacy in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘the Privacy Act’). This policy informs you about:
The kinds of information we collect and hold, which, as a medical practice, is likely to be ‘health information’ for the purposes of the Privacy Act.
How we collect and hold personal information.
The purposes for which we collect, hold, use, and disclose personal information.
How you may access your personal information and seek correction of that information.
How you may complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with such a complaint.
Whether we are likely to disclose personal information to overseas recipients.
We may collect and hold the following types of information:
Name, address, date of birth, email, and contact details.
Medicare number, DVA number, and other government identifiers (not used for internal identification).
Other health information, including:
Notes of your symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment.
Specialist reports and test results.
Appointment and billing details.
Prescriptions and pharmaceutical purchases.
Dental records.
Genetic information.
Healthcare identifier.
Any other information about your race, sexuality, or religion, when collected by a health service provider.
Personal information is generally collected:
Directly from you during face-to-face discussions, telephone conversations, registration forms, or online forms.
From a person responsible for you.
From third parties where permitted by the Privacy Act or other law, including:
Other members of your treating team.
Diagnostic centres, specialists, hospitals.
The My Health Record system.
Electronic prescription services.
Medicare, your health insurer, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
We collect, hold, use, and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:
To provide health services to you.
To communicate with you regarding the health services provided.
To comply with legal obligations, including mandatory notification of communicable diseases or reporting under child protection legislation.
To manage accounts and administrative services, including billing, arrangements with health funds, pursuing unpaid accounts, and managing IT systems.
For consultations with other doctors and allied health professionals involved in your healthcare.
To obtain, analyse, and discuss test results from diagnostic and pathology laboratories.
For identification and insurance claiming.
If you have a My Health Record, to upload and download your personal information from the system.
Information may also be disclosed through electronic transfer of prescription services.
To liaise with health funds, government, and regulatory bodies such as Medicare, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), as necessary.
You have the right to seek access to and correction of the personal information we hold about you.
To access or correct your health record, please contact our practice (see ‘Contact Details’ below).
We will normally respond to your request within 30 days.
Our staff are trained and required to respect and protect your privacy. Reasonable steps are taken to protect information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. This includes:
Secure storage of records.
Access controls and staff training.
Regular review of security measures.
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, you may lodge your complaint in writing (see ‘Contact Details’ below). We will normally respond within 30 days.
If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may refer the matter to the OAIC:
Phone: 1300 363 992
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Fax: +61 2 9284 9666
Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
The Privacy Act provides that individuals must have the option of not identifying themselves, or of using a pseudonym, except where impracticable. For Bawrunga Medical Services, it is largely impracticable to provide medical services or billing via Medicare or a health insurer without identifying you. Therefore, we require you to use your real name.
We may disclose your personal information to the following overseas recipients:
Any practice or individual assisting us in providing services (e.g., transfer of health records from or to overseas providers).
Overseas transcription services.
Overseas-based cloud storage providers.
Anyone else you authorise us to disclose information to.
This policy will be reviewed periodically to account for new laws, technology, and changes to our operations. Updates will be publicised on our website.
For information about privacy and our website, please see our Privacy page.
For all privacy-related questions, concerns, or requests, please contact our practice directly.