Privacy Policy
WHO WE ARE
Advanced Pelvic Physiotherapy Centre Toronto (APPCT) employs and /or contracts physiotherapists, occupational therapists, massage therapists, naturopaths, acupuncturists, social workers, chiropractors, registered traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners, health coaches, and support staff. Our professionals and staff have access to your personal information and, accordingly, are sensitive to the nature and confidentiality of the information disclosed to us. We are committed to ensuring your privacy by complying with all laws and regulations under the applicable privacy laws in Canada. Our Privacy Policy pertains to the personal information that the clinic collects, uses and discloses.
In this clinic, Jessica Nargi, Physiotherapist, is also acting as Privacy Information Officer.
Collection of Personal Health Information:With your consent, we collect your personal health information directly from you, or from the person acting on your behalf. Examples of the type of personal health information that we collect may include, but is not limited to, your health history, other treating medical practitioners, diagnoses, and/or referrals.
Information may be collected by telephone, by filling out forms in person or on-line, by personal interview, or as information sent in the form of fax or written letters by other members of your healthcare team. We may sometimes collect personal health information about you from other sources, if we have obtained your consent to do so, or if the law permits.
It is your responsibility to accurately represent the personal health information provided to us. You acknowledge that you are providing your information to us voluntarily and that you are personally responsible for any inaccurate information that is provided and/or omitted.
Uses and Disclosures of Personal Health Information:
Your personal health information will be used and disclosed only for the following purposes when working with a Regulated Health Care Professional (s):
o To deliver safe and efficient care to you, including treatment plans and follow-up care.
o To document changes that occur over time or with treatment.
o To comply with the regulatory requirements of the physiotherapy profession, and/or other allied health members and to comply generally with the law under the Regulated Health Professionals Act (RHPA), and for the defence of a legal issue.
o To contact you, your family members or health care providers, if needed.
o To effectively communicate with other healthcare professionals involved in your care.
o To plan, deliver and monitor patient care programs or services.
o To invoice for services and collect for unpaid accounts.
o For risk management, security or improving the quality of the clinic’s services.
o As otherwise permitted or required by law.
We will only make disclosures of personal information to individuals or medical practitioners for whom you provide your consent. We, however, may also make disclosures in relation to any transaction involving the sale of the clinic’s business or, otherwise, as permitted or required by law.
We will not sell, trade or transfer your personal information to third parties unless we provide you with notice, except in the circumstances set out below. This does not include our website partners or others who assist us in conducting our business, who will be expected to keep your personal information confidential. The clinic reserves the right to release your personal information in order to comply with certain laws or regulations, enforce our site policies, or to protect our own and others’ rights, property or safety. We may, however, disclose non-personally identifiable information for marketing, advertising or other purposes.
Your Rights:At any time, you may access, correct your personal health records, or withdraw your consent for some of the above uses and disclosures (subject to legal exceptions) by contacting our Privacy Information Officer.
Our Responsibilities: We take steps to protect your personal health and financial information from theft, loss, unauthorized access, copying, modification, use, disclosure, and disposal. We conduct audits to monitor and manage our privacy compliance. We take steps to ensure that everyone who performs services for us protects your privacy and only uses your personal health information for the purposes you have consented to.
Protecting Personal Information: We understand the importance of protecting personal information. For that reason, we have taken the following steps:o Paper information is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area. o Electronic hardware is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area at all times. In addition, passwords are used on computers and electronic systems o Paper information is transmitted either through direct line or is anonymized or encrypted.
o Electronic information is transmitted either through direct line or is anonymized or encrypted.
o Staff is trained to collect, use and disclose personal information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance with our privacy policy.
o External consultants and agencies with access to personal information must enter into privacy agreements with us.
Retention and Destruction of Personal Information:
We need to retain personal information for some time to ensure that we can answer any questions you might have about our services provided and for our own accountability to external regulatory bodies. However, we do not want to keep personal information too long in order to protect your privacy. We keep our client files for a period of ten years in a locked and secured facility at all times. 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. Alternatively, we may send some or all of the client file to our client, if requested and consent is given.
You can look at your Information:With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. Often, all you have to do is ask. 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 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 best we can, 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 sent this information. If we do not agree that we made a mistake, we will still agree to include in our file in a brief statement from you on the point and we will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.
Website Collection:We collect the internet protocol (IP) addresses of all visitors to our website – www.advancedpelvic.ca – and related information such as page requests, browser type, operating system and average time spent on our website. We use this information only to understand more about the activity our website receives. Our website uses “cookies” to recognize you when you visit the website and for other analytical purposes. It is within your own discretion to set your web browser preferences – if, however, set so that you do not receive cookies from our website, you may not be able to access all portions of the website.
This Policy does not apply to other websites or links that may be included on the APPCT website. You are required to check the privacy policies of any third party websites or links to understand their own practices of personal information collection. APPCT is not responsible for the policies of third party websites or links. APPCT reserves the right to update the Policy at its own discretion and without prior notice. Changes will only apply to information collected after the date of the change. This Policy was last modified on May 11, 2020.
We welcome any questions, comments or concerns you may have with respect to privacy and/or our Policy.
Contact Us:Our Contact Person is Jessica Nargi, PT. To find out more about our privacy protection practices, or raise any concerns, contact our contact person at: Tel No: 416-977-3456 E-mail: Jessica.nargi@advancedpelvic.ca
You have the right to file a complaint to the information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario if you think we have violated your rights.
The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario can be reached at:2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto Ontario, M4W 1A8 Tel: Toronto Area: 416-326-3333 Long Distance: 1-800-387-0073 Fax: 416-325-9195
Canadian federal legislation, the PIPEDA, requires us to confirm that we have your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. We are also governed by the Personal Health Information Protection Act of Ontario (2004) Please review the Privacy Policy and sign the consent for our records.