Our privacy commitment
The Advance Rehab Centre (ARC) is committed to best practice in relation to the management of information we collect. As a practice, we collect and store both client and staff information to operate effectively. ARC has developed a policy to safeguard both client and staff privacy and data in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘the Privacy Act’).
Our policy is to inform you of:
- The kinds of information that we collect and hold, which, as an allied health practice, is likely to be ‘health information’ for the purposes of the Privacy Act;
- How we collect and hold personal information;
- The purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information;
- How you may access your personal information and seek the correction of that information;
- How you may complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with such a complaint;
- Whether we are likely to disclose personal information to overseas recipients.
What kinds of personal information do we collect?
The type of information we may collect and hold includes:
- Your name, address, date of birth, email and contact details, marital status and next of kin details
- NDIS participant number and plan, Medicare number, private health insurance details, DVA number and other government identifiers. We do not use these for the purposes of identifying clients in our practice
- Photographs and video footage taken before, after and during treatment for therapeutic analysis
- Other health information about you, including:
- Clinical notes of your symptoms, diagnosis, medical history and the treatment given to you
- Your NDIS plan
- Your Specialist reports and test results such as scans, x-rays etc
- Your appointment and billing details
- Your treatment plans, exercise programs and assessments
How do we collect and hold personal information?
We will generally collect personal information:
- From you directly when you provide your details to us. This might be via a face-to-face discussion, telephone conversation, email or digital registration form
- From a person responsible for you
- From third parties where the Privacy Act or other law allows it – this may include, but is not limited to: other members of your support network, treating medical and allied health team, diagnostic centres, Specialists, hospitals, Medicare and your health insurer
Why do we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information?
In general, we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:
- To provide appropriate and effective health services to you
- To communicate with your referring doctor, general practitioner and other parties in relation to the health service being provided to you
- To comply with our legal obligations, including, but not limited to, mandatory notification of communicable diseases or mandatory reporting under applicable child protection legislation
- To help us manage our accounts and administrative services, including billing, arrangements with health funds, pursuing unpaid accounts, management of our computer systems
- For consultations with other doctors, allied health professionals and support coordinators involved in your healthcare
- For identification and payment claiming.
- To liaise with your health fund, government and regulatory bodies such as NDIS, Medicare, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) (if you make a privacy complaint to the OAIC), as necessary
- In the event of a subpoena request
How can you access and correct your personal information?
You have a right to seek access to, and dispute, the personal information which we hold about you. For details on how to access and correct your health record, please contact our practice as noted below under ‘Contact Details’: We will normally respond to your request within 30 days.
How do we hold your personal information?
Our staff are trained and required to respect and protect your privacy. We take reasonable steps to protect information held from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
This includes:
- Holding your information electronically on secured servers
- Use of user ids and passwords for all access to your information
- Our staff sign confidentiality agreements
- Our practice has cyber security policies
Artificial Intelligence (AI):
AI tools may have been used to assist with documentation, formatting, or language refinement in this report. Clinical judgement, assessment findings, and recommendations were independently determined and verified by the authoring clinician. Any AI tools used at ARC meet Australian healthcare safety and privacy requirements
Clinical Documentation Audit:
Your clinical information may be accessed and reviewed as part of internal documentation audits conducted for quality assurance, compliance, and clinical governance purposes.
Privacy related questions and complaints
If you have any questions about privacy-related issues or wish to complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles or the handling of your personal information by us, you may lodge your complaint in writing to (see below for details). We will normally respond to your request within 30 days. If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may refer the matter to the OAIC:
Phone: 1300 363 992
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Fax: +61 2 9284 9666
Post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001
Website: https://www.oaic.gov.au/individuals/how-do-imake-a-privacy-complaint
Anonymity and pseudonyms
The Privacy Act provides that individuals must have the option of not identifying themselves, or of using a pseudonym, when dealing with our practice, except in certain circumstances, such as where it is impracticable for us to deal with you if you have not identified yourself, such as Medicare, health fund and NDIS claiming.
Overseas disclosure
We will not disclose your personal information to any overseas recipients.
Updates
This Policy will be reviewed from time to time to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and other necessary developments. Updates will be publicised on the ARC website.
Contact details for privacy related issues
Practice Manager Advance Rehab Centre 5 George Place, Artarmon NSW 2064
Phone: 02 9066 7777
Email: office@archealth.com.au