NorWest Community Health Centres understands that privacy is very important to our clients. We are committed to protecting their personal and medical information and will handle this with respect and courtesy. Personal information includes any information about an identifiable individual. We protect their privacy by keeping their information for only as long as we need it to fulfill the purpose or as required by law. We may obtain their express consent (either written, in person or by phone), or we may determine that consent has been implied by the circumstances.
This Privacy Policy guides our conduct in the collection, use and disclosure of personal information we obtain in the course of providing health care services to you. We want you to understand how we protect your privacy.
TYPES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED
We collect personal and medical information for the Identified Purposes outlined in this policy. The type of personal information that we hold depends upon the nature of your relationship with us, and includes, but is not limited to:
name, address and telephone number;
date of birth, sex, family, language spoken, and marital status;
Country of Origin (culture), religion, race, education and occupation,
current household composition;
Impact of aboriginal residential school effects on your life;
medical and health information;
employment and financial information.
We use or disclose such information only for the Identified Purposes described below.
LIMITING THE COLLECTION, USE AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We limit the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information to only what is necessary to provide you with the healthcare that you have requested. In order to do this, we collect, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes (our “Identified Purposes”):
to deliver safe and effective patient care to our clients;
establishing and maintaining communications with our clients;
verifying your personal information with government agencies, insurance reporting agencies;
compiling statistics;
complying with the law or requests of law enforcement agencies or regulators;
identify the most appropriate services for our clients;
make certain they are eligible for these services;
share with other service providers (as they client allows us to) to organize their support;
maintain billing and accounting information related to the services they use;
When we collect personal information, we are doing so for all of the Identified Purposes simultaneously.
CONSENT
We ask that the client know our Identified Purposes and provide their consent to before we collect, use or disclose their personal information. The client may provide consent in a variety of ways. We rely on the following actions by the client as indication of their knowledge and consent:
by receipt of this Privacy Policy outlining our Identified Purposes, the client provides their implied consent unless they notify us of the withdrawal of their consent;
client to provide their implied consent when they voluntarily provide personal information to NorWest CHC;
the client provides their express consent when they complete a written, verbal or electronic application process;
NorWest CHC may also ask for their express consent for a specified purpose.
We will not disclose client medical and health information, or employment and income information, without the client’s express consent.
The client may withdraw their consent, subject to legal or contractual obligations and on reasonable notice, but this may limit our ability to provide the client with the requested product or service.
In the event that the client wishes to withdraw their consent, they should contact NorWest CHC’s Privacy Compliance Officer first to understand the implications of such withdrawal, and then if they choose to proceed, give the requisite notice.
MAINTAINING ACCURATE INFORMATION
NorWest CHC will work to keep client personal information as accurate, complete and up-to-date as is necessary for our Identified Purposes.
PROTECTING CLIENT PRIVACY
We are committed to protecting client privacy. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect their personal information from unauthorized access. We review our policies and practices, monitor our computer networks, test the strength of our security and monitor our compliance with relevant laws in order to help us ensure the safety of your personal information. We restrict access to your personal information to those employees whom we have determined need to know that information to provide products or services to you. In addition, our employees are bound by a Privacy Code of Conduct. Employees who violate these standards are subject to disciplinary measures.
There are situations where we will disclose personal information in accordance with our Identified Purposes.
If the client concludes their relationship with us, we will continue to safeguard the privacy of their personal information in accordance with this policy and as required by law.
Finally, personal information is retained only as long as it is needed, or to meet any legal, regulatory or tax requirements.
MAINTAINING ACCURATE INFORMATION
Norwest CHC will work to keep personal information as accurate, complete and up-to-date as is necessary for our identified purposes.
ACCESSING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
The client can request access to their personal information that we have on file in order to verify the accuracy and completeness of the personal information. To request access, the client is asked to please send the written request to NorWest CHC’s Privacy Compliance Officer. We will respond to the client’s request within 30 days or advise you if additional time is required to respond to their request.
There may be situations in which we are legally prohibited from allowing the client access to their personal information. If this is the case, we will advise them of why, subject to any legal restrictions.
We may charge the client for providing access to their personal information, however we will only do so after first advising them of the approximate cost.
If the client believes that any of their personal information is incorrect, they can request that it be amended. We will amend personal information that is demonstrated to be inaccurate or incomplete and will make reasonable efforts to advise other parties to whom we have supplied your personal information of corrections that are needed. There is no charge for verifying and correcting information.
QUESTIONS OR COMPLAINTS:
If you have a question or complaint regarding our Privacy Policy or procedures, please contact our Privacy Compliance Officer:
Privacy Officer
NorWest Community Health Centres
525 Simpson Street,
Thunder Bay, ON P7C 3J6
Phone: (807) 622-8235
Fax: (807) 622-7637
Email:
Complaints will be taken in the written form on the “Complaint Form” provided and attached to this policy. We will investigate all privacy complaints.
If we do not resolve your questions or complaint to your satisfaction, you may address your concerns to:
