Privacy Policy

StL Diagnostic Imaging recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information, in particular, personal health information.

Protecting the privacy of personal information is an important component in the provision of quality diagnostic imaging services for our patients. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing your personal information in a responsible manner, and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide.

StL Diagnostic Imaging is responsible for the personal information we collect and store. To ensure this accountability, we have developed this Privacy Policy which outlines how we manage your personal information and safeguard your privacy. We have also trained our professional, technical and support staff about our policies and practices.

What is Personal Information?

Personal information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be deduced. Personal information includes any health related information. Business information however (e.g. an individual’s business title or business address and business telephone number) is not protected by privacy legislation. Generally speaking, if we do not collect and use your personal information, we cannot provide you with our healthcare services.

Purposes for the Collection, Use and Disclosure of your Personal Information

We collect, use and disclose personal information for the following purposes:

To deliver quality diagnostic imaging services to our patients
To identify and to ensure continuous high quality service
To assess your health needs
To advise you and/or your physician with respect to health related matters, and to render a diagnosis and/or treatment recommendation
To enable us to contact and maintain communication with you, including, without limitation, to distribute health-care information and to book and confirm appointments
To communicate with your physician and/or health-care providers and organizations where required for your health care
To allow us to efficiently follow-up for testing, treatment, care and billing
For teaching and demonstrating purposes on an anonymous basis (if possible)
For research, health surveillance and statistical analysis of data purposes
To determine whether you may be a good candidate for a particular research study
To complete submit claims for payment to OHIP and to other third parties (such as private health insurance plans) in order to be paid for services rendered
To collect unpaid accounts and to process payments in general
To comply with legal and regulatory requirements, including the delivery of patients’ charts and records to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario or others as required under the Independent Health Facilities Act or the Healing Arts Radiation Protection Act (or successor legislation) in a timely manner, when required, and to comply with any other agreements/undertakings entered into with the College or the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care
To permit potential purchasers or advisors to evaluate the facility in preparation for a sale
To deliver your charts and records to our insurance carrier to enable the insurance company to assess liability and quantify damages, if any
To prepare materials for the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board (HPARB)
For administrative/management activities such as planning resource allocation, reporting or evaluation
To assist this office to comply with all regulatory requirements
To comply generally with the law
Such other purpose or purposes that may be identified before or at the time the information is collected.

We will only collect that information necessary for the purposes set out in this Policy. To the extent that your personal information is to be used or disclosed for a purpose not previously identified, the new purpose will be identified prior to its use or disclosure.

If you are unclear, our staff will be able to explain to you the purpose for which the information is being collected at the time of collection.

How is Personal Information Collected?

We collect information only by lawful and fair means, and not in an unreasonably intrusive way. Wherever possible, we collect your personal information directly from you at your first visit to the facility. We also collect information from your referring physician.

Consent

We rely on your implied consent for purposes related to your care (including sharing information with your referring physician or other health care providers). We will seek your written consent for other purposes, e.g. identifiable information used for research or legal.

You have the right to know why we are collecting your information and how it is being used.

You also have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, unless the collection, use or sharing is required or permitted by law. These circumstances include (where applicable): where you are unconscious, too sick or not lucid; where collection or use is undoubtedly in your interest and consent cannot be obtained in a timely manner; to comply with a subpoena, warrant or court order; or as required or otherwise permitted by law.

Limiting Collection, Use, Disclosure and Retention of Personal Information

The collection of personal information is limited to that which is necessary for the purposes identified in this Policy. Similarly, personal information shall not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which the information is collected, except with your express consent, or as required by law.

We retain patient records and images as required by law and regulations, including the regulations under the Independent Health Facilities Act (Ontario).

Disposal of Personal Information

We destroy our records in a way that protects patient privacy. This includes electronic records and hardware. We use supervised incineration (or) supervised shredding (or) bonded contractors who must adhere to contractual privacy obligations. Before the secure disposal of a health record, we maintain a log with the patient’s name, the time period covered by the destroyed record, the method of destruction and the person responsible for supervising the destruction (if applicable).

Updating Your Information

Since we use your personal information to provide health services to you, we will use our reasonable best efforts to ensure that the information is as accurate, complete and up-to-date as necessary for the purposes that it is to be used. If any of your personal information changes, please inform us immediately so that we can make any necessary changes. You have the right to challenge the accuracy of the information.

Is My Personal Information Secure?

Our facility takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss, theft, unauthorized access, modification, unwarranted use, copying, disclosure or tampering. Your information is protected whether recorded on paper or electronically.

We have safeguards in place to protect all personal information retained in our facility, and during their disposal and destruction. Our safeguards include:

Physical measures (locked filing cabinets, restricting access to our office, alarm systems)
Technological tools (passwords, encryption, firewalls, anonymizing software)
Organizational controls (security clearances, limiting access on a “need-to-know” basis, staff training, confidentiality agreement, privacy and confidentiality education)

The facility’s staff are also aware of the importance of maintaining the security and confidentiality of all personal information in our possession. We review and update our security measures on a regular basis.

Communicating with you

We are sensitive to the privacy of your health information and this is reflected in how we communicate with both you and others involved in your care. We protect personal health information regardless of its format.

Telephone: Your preference with regards to phone messages will be taken into consideration. Unless you indicate otherwise, we will only leave our name and phone number on any message for you.

Fax: Our fax machines are located in a secure area and we use pre-programmed numbers to send transmissions. All transmissions are sent with a cover sheet that indicated the information is confidential. We take reasonable steps to ensure that health information is received only be a secure fax machine.

E-Mail: Any confidential information that we send via email over public or external networks is encrypted. We employ a firewall and virus scanning software to mitigate against unauthorized modification, loss, access or disclosure.

Post/Courier: When health information is transferred to another location, it is placed in a sealed envelope, marked as confidential, and directed to the attention of the authorized recipient.

Access to Your Personal Information

You may ask for access to any personal information we hold about you with reasonable notice and at a reasonable cost (if access is not for ongoing medical care). Exceptions to providing access will be limited and specific. This may include information that is prohibitively costly to provide, refers to other individuals, cannot be disclosed for legal, security or proprietary reasons, and/or is subject to solicitor-client or litigation privilege.

Summary information is available on request. More detailed requests may be subject to a reasonable fee for photocopying, converting information to an alternate format (if applicable) and staff resources time. We will advise you of the approximate costs before processing your request. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period of time and we will try to be as specific as possible.

Can I be Denied Access to My Personal Information?

Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute. Access can be denied for several different reasons, including:

If doing so would likely reveal information about another individual, unless the other individual’s information is severable or the other individual third party has consented
If doing so could reasonably be expected to threaten the life or security of another individual, unless the third party information is severable
If the information is protected by solicitor-client privilege
If doing so would reveal confidential commercial information
If the denial of access is required or authorized by law.

If we deny your request for access to your personal information, we shall explain why.

Requests for Access

If you have any questions or concerns, or wish to access your personal information, please contact our Privacy Information Officer at:

3155 Harvester Road, Suite 310, Burlington, Ontario, L7N 3V2
(905) 637-6608
Attention: Dr. Eugene St. Louis

We take your concerns seriously and will do everything necessary to respond to you without undue delay. If you are not satisfied with our response, the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario can be reached at:

Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400
Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8
Tel: 416- 326-3333/ 1-800-387-0073