Privacy Policy

At Aspect Radiology we are committed to complying with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”) and protecting the privacy of our patients and visitors to our website through explaining our practices, only collecting, using or disclosing information as outlined, as is necessary for health purposes, or with consent, and resolving any privacy-related problems as quickly as possible. Where there is a conflict between this Privacy Policy and the Privacy Act, the requirements of the Privacy Act will override this Policy.

Why we collect and hold your personal information Aspect Radiology collects and retains personal information (including sensitive health information) regarding patients in order to provide quality diagnostic services and assist in the provision of medical care. Generally, we collect personal information directly from you (and if you are a visitor to the website this is the only way we will collect personal information from you, as the website does not use cookies), however, if you are a patient we may also collect information about you from third parties, including from your referring Health Professional and/or Medical Specialist.

The kinds of personal information we collect and hold

The main categories of personal information collected and held by Aspect Radiology regarding patients include:

name;
address;
phone number(s);
date of birth; and
gender.

Aspect Radiology also collects sensitive health information in the course of providing health services to an individual including:

the results of any tests or procedures;
information about your past clinical history (eg medication taken, previous test results, etc);
information provided by your referring Health Professional and/or Medical Specialist;
information provided by third parties (such as an authorised representative), or other Allied Health Professionals (such as physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, podiatrists, dentists, nurses, etc);
payment and administrative details (such as your Medicare, Workers Compensation insurance, Motor Accident Compensation or private health insurance information); and/or
information collected directly from you (including verbally) when you attend our clinics.

If you choose not to provide your personal (including sensitive health) information to Aspect Radiology, we may be unable to provide you with the services you request. For visitors to our website, the only personal information we collect is the information you tell us about yourself, if any.We use statistical software to capture information on the activity of the website in non personal form. The information collected records statistical measures such as the number of users who use the website, the geographical area in which a user is located and the identity of their service provider. The software does not identify the user of the website. How we use your personal information If you are a patient, Aspect Radiology may use your personal (including sensitive health) information for the purpose of:

making an assessment of your health status;
providing a specialist medical report about your health to your referring Health Professional and/or Medical Specialist or third parties (as described above);
providing your treatment and ongoing health care (unless you have notified us otherwise);
billing and collection of any outstanding debts;
sending out appointment reminders;
sending you reminder notices of specific tests;
notifying relevant organisations (such as medical defence organisations, insurance companies and/or legal advisors) of an incident/accident when a claim of medical malpractice has been alleged;
ongoing research of specific cases for opinion and education of professional personnel, and research projects with appropriate ethics approvals;
quality assurance activities, audit, practice accreditation, customer satisfaction surveys, market research/statistical analysis, marketing promotions and complaint handling; and/or
responding to messages/enquiries you submit through our websites.

If you are a visitor to our website, we will only use your personal information supplied through the website (including your email address) for the purpose for which you have provided it, unless you have consented otherwise or we are required to do so by the law. We will retain your information for as long as we consider reasonably necessary, at which time it will be destroyed.

Disclosure of your personal information

Aspect Radiology does not sell or disclose personal (including sensitive health) information about our patients to drug companies or other health organisations/persons who are not involved in your medical care. Aspect Radiology may sometimes need to use and disclose personal (including sensitive health) information about you where it is reasonably necessary in the context of your treatment to organisations outside of Aspect Radiology for medical, ethical, insurance, legal, scientific and/or procedural reasons. These organisations may include:

your referring Health Professional, nominees of your referring Health Professional (for example employees and other Health Professionals in your referring Health Professional’s clinic) and any ‘copied to’ Health Professional;
consultant Medical Specialists or other registered Health Professionals who are involved in your ongoing health care outside of Aspect Radiology and who have been requested to provide further advice on your medical condition or to assist in responding to enquiries submitted through our websites;
hospital medical staff;
registered Health Professionals granted access to Aspect Radiology’s secure web-based password-protected Referrer Portal (see below);
local contractors whom we have partnered with, under strict privacy requirements including those that relate to cross-border disclosure, to provide services to our business operations.
We will not store or send your personal information outside Australia;
researchers undertaking research projects with appropriate ethics approvals, with such disclosure being under strict privacy requirements including a requirement that any disclosed information be de-identified if it is to be used in the project;
your representative(s) (eg your guardian, carer, a translator/intermediary and/or authorised representative (such as a family member or legal advisor);
health services or enforcement bodies in situations where Aspect Radiology is informed there is a serious and imminent threat to your life, health or safety;
insurers (such as Medicare, Workers Compensation insurer, Motor Accident insurer or your private health fund) for the purpose of benefits payable;
our professional advisors (such as auditors and legal advisors);
government and regulatory authorities and other organisations, as required or authorised by law; and/or
Aspect Radiology’s associated entities (as that term is defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)) within our corporate group structure. Please note that if you do not agree to the disclosure of your personal information to some or all of the above described recipients, we may not be able to provide services to you.

You can contact the Aspect Radiology’s Privacy Officer if you have any questions around the disclosure of your personal information, including disclosure to researchers. Aspect Radiology may de-identify personal (including sensitive) information about you for use and disclosure of that de-identified information to organisations outside of Aspect Radiology for the purposes of analysing our service quality and timeliness, marketing our services and the compilation or analysis of statistics comprised of, or related to, the health information that you provide to us.

Personal (including sensitive) information may also be used internally for opinion, audit and educational purposes.

Direct marketing

We will seek your consent to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes. With this consent, Aspect Radiology or authorised third party contractors may contact you for the purposes of quality assurance activities, customer satisfaction surveys, marketing promotions, market research or the compilation or analysis of statistics comprised of, or related to, the health information that you provide to us. When we contact you it may be via mail, phone, email or SMS. You can, however, contact the Privacy Officer, at any time if you do not wish to be contacted for direct marketing purposes. If you request not to receive direct marketing information, please note that we will still contact you to provide you with relevant information in respect of your ongoing health care. For example, we will continue to send you relevant statements, invoices, reminders, notices, etc.

Accuracy of your personal information Aspect Radiology endeavours to ensure that the personal (including sensitive) information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, up-to-date and complete. The accuracy and completeness of that information depends on the information you provide to us (including when you provide us with information via the internet). We recommend that you:

tell us if there are any errors in the information we hold; and
inform us of any changes to your information (such as your name, address or Medicare number).

Access to and correction of your information

The best way to obtain your results is in consultation with your referring Health Professional, so that your referring Health Professional can interpret the results and explain them to you in the context of your health care. Your imaging findings are only one aspect of your health assessment. Your referring Health Professional is in the best position to discuss the imaging results and balance it with your other examination findings and other health test results. You may, however, request access to personal information we hold about you. In some instances, charges may apply for the reproduction of results or images (if available). We will inform you of any costs before they are incurred. In some circumstances your request may be denied for specific legal reasons as set out in the Privacy Act , including if the request is vexatious or if a criminal investigation is under way.

You may also request that we correct the personal information we hold about you if you consider it to be inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. You may request access to, and/or correction of, your personal information by contacting us. If your access or correction request is denied, a reason will be given to you and we will inform you of the mechanisms available to complain about the refusal. In order to maintain the security of your personal information, two (2) forms of identification (such as a driver licence, and evidence of home address, such as from a utilities or council rates bill) will generally be required before copies of information will be supplied.

In some circumstances, Aspect Radiology provides a confidential film delivery service. This service may be provided by our own staff. If this is unacceptable to you, please arrange with our staff to collect your own films. If you intend to have another person collect your films on your behalf, you must provide written consent to this collection, including the name of the person collecting your films.

Data security

Though we cannot ensure the security of any internet transmissions (meaning that you transmit information to us over the internet at your own risk), all reasonable steps are taken to protect your personal information (including sensitive health information) held by Aspect Radiology from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Records are held securely for future retrieval in accordance with applicable regulatory and legislative requirements and good business practice.

If information is no longer needed, Aspect Radiology will take reasonable steps in the circumstances to destroy the information or will ensure that the information is de-identified.

Our approach to privacy

Aspect Radiology will protect your privacy by:

only obtaining information about your health, as necessary for health purposes, in accordance with this Privacy Policy or with your consent;
keeping your health information secure;
giving you reasonable access to the information we have concerning you;
not disclosing this information outside the organisation or to those third parties described in this Privacy Policy without your consent;
allowing you to withdraw your consent at any stage, in its entirety or in respect of some activities described in this Privacy Policy only;
providing you with a simple complaints mechanism for complaints relating to privacy issues;
ensuring a process for working with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to resolve any complaints that cannot be resolved directly with you;
providing written procedures and instructions for staff to ensure that privacy sensitive processes are adhered to;
ensuring Aspect Radiology’s external (including offshore) contractors, and third party researchers to whom information is made available, comply with the Privacy Act and other relevant laws; and
continuing to review and improve our privacy practices.

Online access by non-Aspect Radiology Health Professionals to your medical images and reports

Aspect Radiology provides a secure web-based password-protected Referrer Portal for referring Health Professionals and hospital medical staff to access patients’ images and reports. Your personal (including sensitive health) information (such as images and reports) may be made available through this portal.

Users of this service are subject to an obligation to collect health information with your consent and, in many cases, are bound by codes of practice relevant to their profession. Health Professionals may apply to Aspect Radiology for a username and password in order to access this service. Before a Health Professional is granted online access they must accept the terms set out in a User Access Agreement stating that the information is required in order to provide a medical service and that it will not otherwise be used or knowingly shared or disclosed. Our systems trace, record and store indefinitely all access activity on every patient file. Your personal (including sensitive health) information will be accessible online, via the Referrer Portal, to your referring Health Professional, who Aspect Radiology records show is involved in your care (for example, your family doctor or specialist).

With your express consent, or the express consent of another person acting for you (such as a parent acting for a child), or in situations where Aspect Radiology is informed that there is a serious and imminent threat to your life, health or safety, we may also provide access to other Health Professionals. For example, you may elect to give express consent to Aspect Radiology providing access to your personal (including sensitive health) information (such as images and reports) to Medical Specialists generally.

Complaints

Your privacy is important to Aspect Radiology. You can complain about how we have treated your personal information or privacy generally. Please send your complaint to the Aspect Radiology Privacy Officer at the address below. The complaint will be investigated and a response will be sent to you as quickly as possible. We will endeavour to respond to you within 7 business days of receipt of the complaint. If you are dissatisfied with the response, you can refer the matter to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Contact details:

Aspect Radiology Privacy Officer
PO Box 2228
Sunnybank Hills
QLD 4109

Ph: 07 3568 4788
Email: [email protected]