INTRODUCTION

Privacy of patients’ personal information is an important principle to Doctors Eyecare Wetaskiwin. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information in a responsible manner. This document describes our privacy policy.

WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal information is information about an individual that relates to his/her personal characteristics (e.g. gender, age, income, home address, phone number(s), ethnic background, religion, family status, etc.), or health (e.g. health history, health conditions, health services, etc.).

Business information, when used for business contact purposes (e.g. address, phone number, etc.), is not considered personal information and therefore is not affected by privacy legislation.

WHO WE ARE

Doctors Eyecare Wetaskiwin includes any optometrist or health care professional, all employees, staff and student trainees authorized to collect, use or disclose personal information. We use a number of consultants and agencies that may, in the course of their duties, have limited access to personal information we hold. These include, but are not limited to, computer consultants, office security and maintenance, bookkeepers and accountants, temporary workers to cover holidays, credit card companies, collection agencies, website managers, cleaners and lawyers. We restrict their access to any personal information we hold as much as is reasonably possible. We also have their assurance that they follow appropriate privacy principles.

COLLECTION AND USE

Personal information collected from patients of this practice shall be limited to that required to:
a) Evaluate your eye health and vision status.
b) Determine and recommend appropriate treatment or referral.
c) Communicate with you about the services we provide.
d) To advise you about your vision care needs.
e) Provide you with eye-care, health or other product or treatment information.
f) Process payment and pursue collection of accounts receivable for services and products received from our office.
g) Communicate with others (e.g. other health care providers, lawyers, third party insurers, etc.) about your eye health and vision status.

DISCLOSURE

In the course of providing services to you, your personal information may be disclosed where required or allowed by law and may also be disclosed to:
a) Other health care providers.
b) Insurers or other third party payers you have identified.
c) Regulatory authorities, where such information may assist in the investigation of a complaint or a review of standards of care.
d) Governmental authorities (e.g. CCRA, Privacy Commissioner, Human Rights Commission, etc.) who have it in their mandate to access your file.
e) Our practice’s lawyers, accountants, information managers or other consultants contracted to provide advice or counsel regarding the administration or management of the practice.
f) On termination of sale of the practice, to a purchasing optometrist or file storage facility that agrees to serve as trustee of your personal information and to only access this information for the purpose of confirming their custody of your file, unless you initiate contact as a patient.

The disclosure of personal information shall be limited to that which is necessary for the purpose for which it is disclosed. All the above noted external parties have the same legal responsibility as this practice to protect all personal information collected in the course of their activities.

ACCESS AND DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

You have the right to access your personal information at any reasonable time (e.g. during regular office hours) and have the right to request corrections to your personal information. This applies to factual information and not professional opinions we may have recorded. Corrections are recorded on your patient file. If our office does not agree with the correction, we will include a brief statement on your file recording both opinions.

Reasonable safeguards will be taken whenever paper and electronic records are destroyed or deleted. Every reasonable effort will be made to ensure that no record remains after destruction.

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?

Should you have any questions or concerns about our privacy policy, please contact our privacy officer at:

Doctors Eyecare Wetaskiwin
4916 – 53 Street
Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada T9A 3P1
Phone: (780) 361-2020  Fax: (780) 361-4691
lorrie.oliver@wetaskiwineyecare.com

More general inquiries should be directed to:

The Alberta Government Privacy Help Desk – privacyhelpdesk@gov.ab.ca