Regulatory

Growing With Grace Regulatory Information

Regulatory Information

Website Privacy Policy

The privacy of your personal information is very important to us. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide. WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION? Personal information includes information that relates to • An individual’s personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, income, home address or telephone number, ethnic background, family status); • Health (e.g., health history, health conditions, health services received by them); • Activities and views (e.g., opinions expressed by an individual, an opinion or evaluation of an individual). • Personal information is different from business information (e.g., an individual’s business address and telephone number). This is not protected by privacy legislation. WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION: Primary Purposes Like all health care professionals, we collect, use and disclose personal information in order to serve our clients. The primary purpose for collecting personal information is to provide treatment. For example, we collect information about a client’s health history, including their family history, physical condition, and function in order to help us assess what their health needs are, to advise them of their options and then to provide the health care they choose to have. WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION: Related and Secondary Purposes Like most organizations, we also collect, use and disclose information for purposes secondary to our primary purposes. The most common examples of our related and secondary purposes are as follows: To invoice clients for goods or services that was not paid for at the time, to process credit card payments or to collect unpaid accounts. We review clients and other files for the purpose of ensuring that we provide high quality services, including assessing the performance of our Therapists. The cost of services provided by the clinic to clients is sometimes paid for by third parties (e.g., private insurance e billing). These third party payers often have the client’s consent or legislative authority to direct us to collect and disclose to them certain information in order to demonstrate client entitlement to this funding. Clients or other individuals we deal with may have questions about our services after they have been received. We retain our client information for a mandatory minimum of seven years after the last contact to enable us to respond to those questions and provide these services. PROTECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION We understand the importance of protecting personal information. For that reason, we have taken the following steps: • Paper information is secured in a locked filing cabinet. We may have other therapists working at this clinic and as such your file may be shared amongst the therapists if you transfer your care from one practitioner to another. • Electronic hardware is safe coded via passwords. Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies. • External consultants and agencies with access to personal information must enter into privacy agreements with us. • Where a client has booked an appointment through our on-line booking system, this system is maintained by Cliniko. RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION We need to retain personal information for some time to ensure that we can answer any questions the client may have about the services provided and for our own accountability to external regulatory bodies. We keep our clients files for seven years according to the Privacy Act of WA. We destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding. We destroy electronic information by deleting it and, when the hardware is discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically destroyed. YOU CAN LOOK AT YOUR INFORMATION With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. We can help you identify what records we might have about you. We will also try to help you understand any information you do not understand (e.g., short forms, technical language, etc.). We will need to confirm your identity, if we do not know you, before providing you with this access. We reserve the right to charge a nominal fee for such requests. If there is a problem we may ask you to put your request in writing. If we cannot give you access, we will tell you within 30 days if at all possible and tell you the reason as to why we cannot give you access. If you believe there is a mistake in the information, you have the right to ask for it to be corrected. This applies to factual information and not to any professional opinions we may have formed. We may ask you to provide documentation that our files are wrong. Where we agree that we made a mistake, we will make the correction and notify anyone to whom we have sent this information. If we do not agree that we have made a mistake, we will still agree to include in our file a brief statement from you on the point and we will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information. DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION? If you have a concern about the professionalism or competence of our services we would ask you to discuss those concerns with our Privacy Officer, Ramona Miranda. She can be reached best by email at: enquiry@growingwithgrace.com.au. However, if we cannot satisfy your concerns, you are entitled to complain to our regulatory body. DISCLAIMER The information contained on this website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment of any kind. Without personal face to face consultation, we are unable to consider personal circumstances, We advise you to always seek the advice of your specialist, doctor or other qualified health provider, with any questions you may have regarding any medical condition. If you have any chronic or recurring conditions such as high blood pressure, back or neck pain, arthritis, heart conditions etc., please seek your doctor’s advice before starting any new exercise program. Any exercise suggestions contained within this site are not intended as a substitute for professional advice. Growing With Grace and associated parties make every effort to ensure the quality of the information available within this site, however, before relying on this information, readers should carefully evaluate the accuracy, currency and relevance for their purpose and seek appropriate medical advice relevant to their circumstances. This website may contain links to external websites, which are not maintained by or related to Growing With Grace. links to such sites are provided as a service to readers, and while all care is taken in selecting external websites, it is the responsibility of the reader to make their own decisions about the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in the external website. links to any external websites do not imply endorsement by Growing With Grace Growing With Grace and associated parties, do not accept any liability for any injury, loss or damage incurred by the use or reliance on the information provided on this site. Website Analytics: To improve your experience on our site, we may use 'cookies'. Cookies are an industry standard and most major web sites use them. A cookie is a small text file that our site may place on your computer as a tool to remember your preferences. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. Our website may contain links to other websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. When you go to other websites from here, we advise you to be aware and read their privacy policy. Our website uses Google Analytics, a service which transmits website traffic data to Google servers in the United States. Google Analytics does not identify individual users or associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. We use reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in Google's Privacy Policy - external site and for the purposes set out above. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google - external site. growingwithgrace.com.au also uses interfaces with social media sites such as Facebook. If you choose to "like" or "share" information from this website through these services, you should review the privacy policy of that service. If you are a member of a social media site, the interfaces may allow the social media site to connect your visits to this site with other Personal Information. If you have any privacy concerns, please contact us. If you would like to opt out of Google Analytics, please use Google’s Opt-Out Browser Add-on