Most people take for granted that their doctor will keep their information private. Can the same be said for other types of health service providers such as physiotherapists, naturopaths, chiropractors and masseuses, as well? What becomes of the health-related information that they have in their records? If you’re an independently practicing health professional, what types of privacy laws must you follow?
Is Your Business a Health Service?
According to the Australian Government’s Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, your business is a ‘health service’ under the Privacy Act if you do any of the following:
- Assess, record, maintain or improve a person’s health
- Diagnose or treat illnesses or disabilities
- Write prescriptions or provide other medicinal preparations
Health service organisations include private hospitals, day surgeries, clinics, pharmacists, complementary therapists such as chiropractors, and even gyms and weight loss centres. It may surprise you to learn that child care centres, private schools and other private educational institutions may also fall under this category. So, if you run a small licensed daycare, you may be subject to the same legal requirements for document security that a doctor must follow.
What does this mean for your business? Because health information is so sensitive and so private, the government has placed extra protections around it. Not only must you follow the Privacy Act, including disposing of confidential information in a secure manner, you also need to put into place other safeguards, such as making sure you obtain consent before collecting personal health information.
Keeping track of what to save and what to shred can be daunting. That’s where Shred On Site comes in. We’ll help you develop a compliant document destruction process and give you advice on the day-to-day management of all of your documents.
On Site Paper Shredding Helps Maintain Patient Confidentiality
How do you make sure you are following the regulations in the Privacy Act and protecting your clients? It’s easy. Make a regular appointment with us to have your documents shredded on site. Our state of the art mobile shredding unit and compliant document destruction program will ensure that your clients’ or patients’ most private information will never be leaked from your business. We even issue you a Certificate of Destruction after we shred, so you can prove you took every precaution when it comes to destroying confidential papers.
Keeping your clients’ trust is vital for both the health of your clients and the health of your practice. Make sure your clients know they can depend on you to keep their private information secure and out of the hands of criminals. Knowing they can rely on you to follow the law will make them more likely to return to you in the future. Call us today for a quote.
