Ford Physio Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy of Ford Physio, a registered sole practice (ABN: 96 285 855 957).

Our commitment to your privacy

We are committed to handling personal information about you, including health information about you, in accordance with the requirements of the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988.

In this Policy, we explain:

• * what kind of information we collect and hold about you

• *how and why we collect it

• *what we do with that information and who we share it with (and when)

• * your right to seek access to, and if required correction of, the records we hold about you

• * your right to make a privacy complaint, to us and others

• * whether we are likely to disclose information about you to overseas recipients.

• What kind of personal information do we collect about you?

• We collect and hold the following kind of information about you:

• * your name, address, date of birth, email and contact details

• * information about your family or relatives

• * information about other health professionals involved in your care

• *any government identifiers such as Medicare number, DVA number.

• However, we do not use these for the purposes of identifying you in our practice

• * other health information about you such as: a record of your symptoms, your relevant medical history, the diagnosis made and the treatment we give you.

• * specialist reports

• * test results

• * your appointment and billing details

• * your prescriptions

• * your healthcare identifier

• * your help fund details

• * other information about you collected for the purposes of providing care to you.

How do we collect and hold your personal information?

We will generally collect personal information about you in these ways:

• * directly from you when you give us your details (e.g., face-to-face, over the phone, via registration form or an online form)from a person responsible for you

• * from a third party where we are permitted by law to do that (eg. other health care professionals involved in your care, from your health insurer, from the My Health Record system etc.)

Why do we collect and use information about you?

We primarily collect and use personal information about you to provide our physiotherapy services to you and to communicate with you and others involved in your care in relation to those services. We also sometimes use that information for other purposes, including:

• * to help us manage our accounts and administrative services, including billing, arrangements with health funds, pursuing unpaid accounts, management of our IT systems;

• *and to conduct accreditation, quality assurance or internal audits.

When and why might we share information about you with others?

We may disclose information about you to others outside of our practice as permitted or required under law. This will include situations where we disclose information about you in order:

• * to comply with our legal obligations (e.g. mandatory reporting under legislation, responding to a court order or subpoena)to consult with other health professionals involved in your healthcare

• * to get test results from diagnostic and pathology services

• * to claim on insurance

• * to communicate with your health fund, with government and other regulatory bodies such as Medicare

• * to help us manage our accounts and administrative services (e.g. billing or debt recovery, arrangements with health funds, pursuing unpaid accounts etc.)If you have My Health Record, to upload and download personal information about you from it

• * to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or a serious threat to public health or safety

• * to help in locating a missing person

• * to establish, exercise or defend an equitable claim through the My Health Record

• * to prepare the defence of anticipated or existing legal proceedings

• * to discharge notification obligations to liability insurers.

Cookies and web analytics

When you interact with our Site, we strive to make your experience easy and meaningful. We, or our third-party service providers, may use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies to track site visitor activity and collect site data. We may combine this data with the Personal Information we have collected from patients. Examples of information that we may collect include technical information such as your computer’s IP address and your browser type, an information about your visit such as the products you viewed or searched for, the country you are in, what you clicked on and what links you visited to get to or from our site. If we identify you with this information, any use or disclosure of that information will be in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Third-party websites

At times, our Site may contain links to other, third-party websites. Any access to and use of such linked websites is not governed by this Privacy Policy, but, instead, is governed by the privacy policies of those third-party websites. We are not responsible for the information practices of such third-party websites.

Marketing Emails

We may send you direct marketing emails and information about products and services that we consider may be of interest to you. These communications will only be sent via email and in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Spam Act 2004 (Cth) as you consented to upon registering for our Services. If, at any time, you would like to stop receiving these promotional emails, you may follow the opt-out instructions contained in any such email. Please note that it may take up to 10 business days for us to process opt-out requests. If you opt-out of receiving emails or promotions from us, we still may send you email about your account, your account or any Services you have requested or received from us, or for other customer service purposes. We do not provide your Information to other organizations for the purposes of direct marketing.If you receive communications from us that you believe have been sent to you other than in accordance with this Privacy Policy, or in breach of any law, please contact us using the details provided below.

• Access to your information

• You have the right to seek access to and correction of the personal information we hold about you. Will usually charge an administration fee of $25 for providing access.We will normally respond to your request within 30 calendar days. To make the request, you should contact our offices on the details provided further down below.If you think that the information we hold about you is not correct, let us know in writing. We will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information where the information is not accurate or up-to-date. From time to time, we may also ask you to verify that the information we hold about you is correct and current. And please notify us if and when your contact details change (see ‘how to contact us’ below).

• Security: how we hold your personal information

• We take reasonable steps to protect the information we hold about you. These are designed to prevent unauthorized access, modification or disclosure and to prevent misuse and loss.

• This includes:

  • * holding information in secure cloud storage

• * getting staff (if any) to sign confidentiality documents

• * providing staff (if any) with training or induction etc. about confidentiality and (in particular) security issues

• * access to information restricted on a ‘need to know’ basis and

• * strong password protections when accessing the information on a computer.

• If you have a privacy-related concern about us

• If you have concerns about the way we’ve handled your privacy, let us know. You should do that in writing. We will then try to respond to you within 30 calendar days.If you are not satisfied with our response, you can refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commission, whose contact details are:

  Phone: 1300 363 992

• Email: [email protected]

• Post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney New South Wales 2001

• Website: https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints/

• Updating this policy

• We will update this policy from time to time, to reflect any changes in our information-handling practices or the law or both.

• We will notify you of changes to the policy by posting a note on our website.

• How to contact us

• To contact us about any privacy related issues, please approach

• Email: [email protected]

• Disclaimer 

• Please read the following carefully:

• You acknowledge your understanding of our disclaimer when you use the Ford Physio website or any of our associated websites or webpages.

• Phone calls and emails 

• Please be advised that any phone calls or emails to the clinic may be recorded for training and verification purposes, and to ensure you receive the full service you deserve. 

• Provision of education information only: always seek professional advice 

• Please remember that the information for users of the Ford Physio website and all associated sites including but not limited to; fordphysio.com.au our Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter, Linkedin, and Pinterest pages as well as our Blogs is presented by Ford Physio free of charge for the benefit of all users.

• It is provided in the absence of a visit with a health care professional, must be considered as an educational service only. The information should not be relied upon as a medical consultation and is not designed to replace independent professional advice.While at Ford Physio we exercise all care to ensure the accuracy of the material contained on this website and associated sites, the information on the site is made available on the basis that Ford Physio is not providing professional advice on any particular health issue or other matter which should be considered a substitute for independent professional advice. None of the content on this site or associated sites is intended to be used as medical advice. The information is not intended to be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, nor should it be used for therapeutic purposes or as a substitute for receiving your own health professional’s advice.

• As such Ford Physio does not accept any liability for any loss, damage, or injury incurred by use of or reliance on the information provided on this website or any of the other associated websites or webpages.

• Quality of information: always check the information 

• At Ford Physio we make every effort to ensure the quality of the information available on this website and make the necessary updates to any information regularly when we become aware of the need for such an update. However we ask before relying on the information on this or any of our associated sites all users should carefully evaluate the accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for their purposes of any information given and we further suggest individuals should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances.

• The material contained on this and any associated websites may include the views or recommendations of third parties and as such does not necessarily reflect the views of Ford Physio or indicate a commitment to a particular course of action. Ford Physio neither guarantees or assumes legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, currency, completeness or interpretation of the information contained on this or any of our associated sites.

• Links to external websites

• This website may contain links to other websites external to Ford Physio’s website, and associated sites. Although Ford Physio takes reasonable care in selecting any linking websites we accept no responsibility for material contained in a website that is linked to this or other sites associated with Ford Physio. These external sites are created and maintained by other public and private organisations. We do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this outside information. It is the responsibility of the user of any of our sites or any of the externally linked websites to make their own decisions about the accuracy, currency, reliability, completeness, relevance and correctness of information contained in such linked external websites.

• Ford Physio may provide links to external websites for the user’s convenience and these links do not constitute an endorsement or a recommendation of any third party products or services offered by virtue of any information, material or content linked from or to this site. We note users of links provided by this site are responsible for being aware of which organisation is hosting the site they visit.

• Views or recommendations provided in linked websites may include the views or recommendations of third parties that do not necessarily reflect those of Ford Physio.

• Security of website 

• Every endeavor is made to ensure that this and any associated websites and webpages are secure. However, users should be aware that the internet is an insecure public network; giving rise to a potential risk that a user’s transactions are being viewed, intercepted or modified by third parties or that files which the user downloads may contain computer viruses or other defects.

• Ford Physio and any associated parties accept no liability for any interference with or damage to a user’s computer system, software or data occurring in connection with this website or associated websites or webpages.

• Users are encouraged to take appropriate and adequate precautions to ensure that whatever is selected from this website is free of viruses or other contamination that may interfere with or damage the user’s computer system, software or data.