Privacy Policy

My Integrated Health is committed to providing quality services to you and this policy outlines our ongoing obligations to you in respect of how we manage your Personal Information.

We have adopted the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act). The NPPs govern the way in which we collect, use, disclose, store, secure and dispose of your Personal Information.

A copy of the Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from the website of The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at https://www.oaic.gov.au/.

What is Personal Information and why do we collect it?

Personal Information is information or an opinion that identifies an individual. We collect your Personal Information for the primary purpose of providing our services to you. This information allows our practitioners to properly assess, diagnose, treat, be proactive in your health care needs, and to contact you in regard to your appointments and care.

We also use personal information directly related to business purposes, such as administrative and billing purposes, to enable you to be identified and contacted by our staff, for practice audits and business processes such as staff training. We may also use your Personal Information for secondary purposes closely related to the primary purpose, in circumstances where you would reasonably expect such use or disclosure. You may unsubscribe from our mailing/marketing lists at any time by contacting us in writing.

When we collect Personal Information we will, where appropriate and where possible, explain to you why we are collecting the information and how we plan to use it.

What type of personal information is collected

The type of Personal information collected and held by My Integrated Health about you includes:

Your name, address, date of birth, email and contact details
Medicare number, dva number and other government identifiers, although we will not use these for the purposes of identifying you in our practice
Information concerning your current health, and past medical health history
Notes of your symptoms or diagnosis and the treatment given to you
Your specialist reports and test results
Your appointment and billing details
Your prescriptions and other pharmaceutical purchases
Your healthcare identifier
Any other information about your race, sexuality, or religion, when collected by a health service provider.

We will generally collect Personal Information from you directly when you provide your details to us. This might be via:

A face-to-face discussion, telephone conversation, registration form or online form or email
From a person responsible for you
From third parties where the privacy act or other law allows it – this may include, but is not limited to: other members of your treating team, diagnostic centres, specialists, hospitals, the My Health Record, electronic prescription services, Medicare, your health insurer, the pharmaceutical benefits scheme

Sensitive information

Sensitive information is defined in the Privacy Act to include information or opinion about such things as an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious or philosophical beliefs, membership of a trade union or other professional body, criminal record or health information.

Sensitive information will be used by us only:

For the primary purpose for which it was obtained
For a secondary purpose that is directly related to the primary purpose
With your consent; or where required or authorised by law.

Confidentiality, security and accuracy of information collected

All staff and practitioners at My Integrated Health are obliged to maintain the confidentiality of the information you provide and to ensure that personal information is not disclosed unnecessarily or irresponsibly.

Due to the sensitive nature of the information that you provide, precautions are taken to safeguard and secure the information we collect. Your information will be stored electronically with passwords that are protected to restrict unauthorised access and backups of data are performed regularly.

All patient files are the property of My Integrated Health, and all practitioners and administrative staff have access to your records for the purposes specified above. Administrative staff will limit their access to your personal health information to the minimum necessary to perform their duties.

How do we hold your personal information?

Our staff are trained and required to respect and protect your privacy. We take reasonable steps to protect information held from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. This includes:

Holding your information on our Medical Software Best Practice Premier. Our computers are all password protected.
All paperwork is scanned and then destroyed via a shredding service
Our staff sign confidentiality agreements

Third parties

Where reasonable and practicable to do so, we will collect your Personal Information only from you. However, in some circumstances we may be provided with information by third parties. In such a case we will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are made aware of the information provided to us by the third party.

Disclosure of Personal Information

There are situations in which we will sometimes need to share your personal information with third parties:

When communicating with other healthcare providers involved in your care
When it is required by law
When it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or public health or safety, or when it is impractical to obtain the patient’s consent
To assist in locating a missing person
To establish, exercise or defend a legal claim or complaint
For the purpose of a dispute resolution process
When there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (for example, mandatory notification of some diseases)
During the course of providing medical services or through electronic transfer of health records, such as the My Health Record
When the information is necessary to obtain Medicare payments or other health insurance rebates

Other than in the course of providing My Integrated Health services or as otherwise described above, My Integrated Health will not disclose personal information about you to a third party without your consent. My Integrated Health practitioners and administrative staff will only disclose to third parties the minimum information that is required.

Security of Personal Information

Your Personal Information is stored in a manner that reasonably protects it from misuse and loss and from unauthorized access, modification or disclosure.

When your Personal Information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify your Personal Information. However, most of the Personal Information is or will be stored in client files which will be kept by us for a minimum of 7 years.

Access to your Personal Information

You may access the Personal Information we hold about you and to update and/or correct it, subject to certain exceptions. If you wish to access your Personal Information, please contact us in writing. We will acknowledge your request within 14 days and providing we have the information you request; access should usually be granted within the 14 days. We will inform you if this timeframe is not achievable.

You will be asked to verify your identity.
A fee may apply in the event that the request is onerous or time consuming
Depending on the circumstances, you may be forwarded the information by mail, email or personally given access to inspect the information

In some circumstances, My Integrated Health may not be in a position to provide access to your health record as per the Privacy Act or other laws. Such circumstances include where:

Access would create a serious threat to your physical and/or emotional health and safety or to the physical and/or emotional health and safety of others
Providing access will have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals
Denying access is required or authorised by law
Legal proceedings have commenced

If access to your health record is denied, a reason will be provided in writing.

Maintaining the quality of your Personal Information

It is an important to us that your Personal Information is up to date. We will take reasonable steps to make sure that your Personal Information is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If you find that the information we have is not up to date or is inaccurate, please advise us as soon as practicable so we can update our records and ensure we can continue to provide quality services to you.

Privacy related to our website

The My Integrated Health website: https://myinteghealth.com.au/ and social media sites affiliated with My Integrated Health may contain links to other websites. Please note that My Integrated Health is not responsible for the privacy practices of any linked websites.

We encourage all users of the My Integrated Health website to read the privacy statements of all linked websites that are visited. My Integrated Health does not endorse the information, products and advertisements contained in the linked sites, and is in no way responsible for the content of such sites. By using the My Integrated Health website in this way, you consent to the collection and use of your personal information as detailed in this policy.

Policy updates

This Policy may change from time to time and is available on our website.

Privacy policy complaints and enquiries

See: https://myhealthrecord.gov.au/internet/mhr/publishing.nsf/content/home

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 by us, you may lodge your complaint in writing to (see below for details). We will normally respond to your request within 30 days.

If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may refer the matter to the OAIC:

P: 1300 363 992
E: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
F: +61 2 9284 9666
Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

Website: https://www.oaic.gov.au/individuals/how-do-i-make-a-privacy-complaint