Privacy Policy
The TMJ Clinics are committed to providing quality health care in a safe and respectful environment. Consistent with our commitment to quality care this practice has developed a policy to protect patient privacy in compliance with privacy legislation, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act 1997 (ACT).
In this privacy policy, “we”, “us” and “ours” means the TMJ Clinics and its related entities.
This Policy refers to:
The information we collect about you
Why we need this information
How your information is used
How to access to the information we hold about you
How to enquire about and manage your information that we hold
The personal information we collect about patients includes:
Identifying personal details, such as your name, address, date of birth and telephone number; and information specific to the services each patient requests from us (e.g. patient reports, x-rays and other medical images).
Information about a patient’s medical, family health, and pain history is needed to provide accurate medical diagnoses and appropriate treatment.
We will be fair in the way we collect information about our patients.
We may incorporate information from a referring practitioner.
The doctors in this practice are members of various medical and professional bodies including medical defence organisations. There may be occasions when disclosure of patient information is required for medical defence purposes.
If you do not allow us to collect the necessary information to make an accurate diagnosis and provide safe care, we may not be able to accommodate you within our practice.
Patients’ rights
You have the right to view or access the personal information we hold about you upon request and verification of your identity.
You may be asked why you wish to view your information and we may take advice about your request before sharing information with you.
We may under certain circumstances not provide access where it would compromise the information of others.
You may be charged to access your information and you may not publish or share this information if it has the potential to harm or compromise others including our staff and practitioners.
If your information is inaccurate we will amend it expediently.
Parents/guardians and children
The right of children to privacy of their health information, based on the professional judgement of the doctor and consistent with the law, might at times restrict access to this information by patients or guardians.
Collection
Your de-identified information may be used to develop studies or programmes that improve our care, delivery, and efficiency to the benefit of other patients.
Sensitive information
Health information is ‘sensitive information’ for the purposes of privacy legislation. This means that generally patients’ consent will be sought to collect health information that is necessary to make an accurate medical diagnosis, prescribe appropriate treatment and to be proactive in patient healthcare.
Use and disclosure
A patient’s personal health information is used or disclosed for purposes directly related to their healthcare and in ways that are consistent with a patient’s expectation.
We will write to referring practitioners and other care providers to share relevant information about your current health and TMJ related issues to ensure that your care is delivered in a coordinated and safe manner.
Some information about patients is also provided to Medicare, and private health funds if relevant for billing and medical rebate purposes.
It may be necessary to disclose information about a patient to fulfil a medical indemnity insurance obligation. This could include provision of information to Medicare or private health funds, if relevant, for billing and medical rebate purposes.
Our practitioners may be required to make mandatory reports when appropriate under federal law.
De-identified information may be used for clinical operations such as professional accreditation, quality assessments, clinical auditing, billing and so forth.
Data quality
All patient information held by this practice relevant to the functions of providing healthcare will be maintained in a form that is accurate, complete and up to date.
Access and correction
To request access to your information or discuss this policy, you can contact the TMJ Clinics on 1300 123 865.
Complaints
We will always take your concerns seriously and respond to you with respect and dignity
If you are not satisfied with this policy or our use of it, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, whose contact details are:
Level 3
175 Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
Privacy Hotline: 1300 363 992