Privacy Policy

This policy was created to comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) which is Canada’s private sector privacy law. Businesses such as Markham Hearing Centre (MHC) rely on personal information to identify and stay in touch with our patients.  We collect personal information to help in providing our patient’s with the best care possible.  Respecting and protecting personal information is a key element in MHC’s goal of providing outstanding customer service.

This policy will set out the rules for how MHC will collect, use and disclose personal information within our clinic.

The basic rules are:

• MHC needs patient consent to collect, use or disclose personal information.
• MHC can only use or disclose personal information for the purpose which they gave consent.
• Even with consent MHC will limit personal information collection to only what is necessary and appropriate.
• MHC’s patients have the right to see the personal information that we collect about them
• Patient’s can contact the Privacy Commissioner of Canada if they have any questions or issues relating to their personal information collected by MHC.

Commitment to Privacy

Protecting the privacy and confidentiality of patient personal information is important to MHC.  Every staff member for MHC must abide by our commitment to privacy in handling of personal information.  This privacy policy applies to all the personal information collected by MHC on all its patients that is in our possession and control.

What is personal information

Personal information includes any factual or subjective information recorded or not, about an identifiable individual.  This includes (but not limited to) information in any form such as age, name, ID numbers, email addresses, credit card numbers, home addresses, phone numbers, health card numbers, any and all personal health information and much more (including opinions, evaluations, comments, etc.)

Who is responsible for protecting the personal information collected, used and disclosed by Markham Hearing Centre.

Lisa Werger, owner of MHC will act as the Chief Privacy Officer for the clinic.  The Chief Privacy Officer along with all clinic staff are responsible for ensuring compliance with this Privacy Policy.  MHC staff may be delegated to take responsibility for collection, use and discloser of patient’s personal information.

The 10 Principles of Principles of Privacy

This policy reflects our compliance with fair information practices.

1. Accountability: We take our commitment to securing patient privacy very seriously.  Each staff member is responsible for the personal information under their control.  It is their duty to protect patient personal information held in our organization or transferred. All staff should be informed about the importance of privacy and required to read MHC privacy policy.  Any questions about our privacy policy should be directed to our Chief Privacy Officer.
   
2. Identifying Purposes – Why we Collect Information: Our clinic collects information from our patients to best service our patient’s hearing needs.  Most of this information comes directly from the patient or from other health clinics the patient has visited and authorized them to disclose to MHC.
3. Consent: We will limit our collection of personal information to only that which is necessary and inform patients that we are collecting such information. We will obtain additional consent if we wish to use their data for any other purpose. For most health care purposes, consent is generally implied as a result of patient consent to treatment. 
4. Limiting Collection: MHC will only collect that information which is necessary for purposes relating to a patient’s hearing ability and improvement.
5. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention: MHC will use the information for the purpose mentioned, or as required by governmental Acts and policies.  For any other purposes additional consent will be requested.  Under no circumstances do we sell patient lists or personal information to third parties. Personal information is only retained as long as necessary by government Acts and policies or to fulfill the clinics responsibility to its patients, after that time all personal information will be destroyed.
6. Accuracy: Although MHC relies on patients informing us of any relevant personal information changes our staff will also do our best to ensure our files include accurate information.
7. Safeguards: Protecting Your Information: MHC takes protecting personal information very seriously and as such takes reasonable means to ensure appropriate safeguards and security measures are taken.  This includes but  not limited to: locking clinic doors during off hours, locked filling cabinets  as well as password protecting our computer networks.  Records may be maintained in paper as well as electronic files.  Patients and staff should be reminded that sending personal information by email is not always secure as emails can be intercepted. Our files may be on site as well as some being stored off-site.  Access to these files will be limited to medical doctors, current clinic staff or persons authorized by law.  Staff should not remove patient personal information from the premises or disclose any personal information to anyone other then those require for health purposes or by law. We provide information to health care providers acting on our patients behalf, on the understanding that they are also bound by law and ethics to safeguard privacy.  Other agents must agree to abide by our Privacy Policy and may be asked to sign a contract to that effect.  We will give them only the information necessary to perform the services for which they are engaged, and will require that they not store, use or disclose the information for any other purpose.
8. Openness: Keeping You Informed:  This policy has been written in plain-language as required by the Act.  At any time a patient of MHC can request and be given a copy of this Privacy Policy and will be notified of this option within the clinic.  A copy of our Privacy Policy will be available on our website.  Any questions and concerns should be forwarded to the Chief Privacy Officer.
9. Individual Access: Patients will be given access to their personal information within a reasonable time, provided a written request and satisfactory identification is produced.  A fee may be charged.  The clinic will change any errors relating to personal information if notified.
10. Provide Recourse – Challenging Compliance: Any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy should be directed to our Chief Privacy Officer (Lisa Werger) at lisa@markhamhearing.ca .  If patient concerns are not addressed to their satisfaction they have the right to complain to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Canada at 1-800-282-1376 or visit their website www.priv.gc.ca or write to them at 30 Victoria Street, Gatineau, Quebec K1A 1H3.