William Street Eyecare
Privacy Policy
Commitment to Privacy
The appropriate collection, use and disclosure of patients’ personal health information is fundamental to our day-to-day operations and to patient care. Protecting the privacy and the confidentiality of patient personal information is important to the doctors and staff at William Street Eyecare.
Applicability of This Privacy Policy
Our Privacy Policy attests to our commitment to privacy and demonstrates the ways we ensure that patient privacy is protected. Our Privacy Policy applies to the personal health information of all our patients that is in our possession and control.
What is Personal Health Information?
Personal health information means identifying information about an individual relating to their physical or mental health (including medical history), the providing of health care to the individual, payments or eligibility for health care, and health number.
The 10 Principles of Privacy
1. Accountability
We take our commitment to securing patient privacy very seriously. Each physician and employee associated with the Practice is responsible for the personal information under his/her control. Our employees are informed about the importance of privacy and receive information periodically to update them about our Privacy Policy and related issues.
2. Identifying Purposes: Why We Collect Information
We ask you for information to establish a relationship and serve your medical needs. We obtain most of our information about you directly from you, or from other health practitioners whom you have seen and authorized to disclose to us. You are entitled to know how we use your information. We will limit the information we collect to what we need for those purposes, and we will use it only for those purposes. We will obtain your consent if we wish to use your information for any other purpose.
3. Consent
You have the right to determine how your personal health information is used and disclosed. For most health care purposes, your consent is implied as a result of your consent to treatment; however, in some circumstances your express, sometimes written consent may be required.
4. Limiting Collection
We collect information by fair and lawful means and collect only that information which may be necessary for purposes related to the provision of your medical care.
5. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention
The information we request from you is used for the purposes defined; we will seek your consent for any other purposes. We will retain your information only for the time it is required for the purposes we described.
6. Accuracy
We endeavour to ensure that all decisions involving your personal information are based upon accurate and timely information. While we will do our best to base our decisions on accurate information, we rely on you to disclose all material information and to inform us of any relevant changes.
7. Safeguards: Protecting Your Information
We protect your information with appropriate safeguards and security measures. The Practice maintains personal information in a combination of paper and electronic files. All paper records concerning individuals’ personal information are stored in files kept onsite at our office. Access to personal information will be authorized only for the doctors and employees associated with the Practice, and other agents who require access in the performance of their duties, and to those otherwise authorized by law.
8. Openness: Keeping You Informed
We have prepared this plain-language Privacy Policy to keep you informed. If you have any additional questions or concerns about privacy, we invite you to contact us by phone and we will address your concerns to the best of our ability.
9. Access and Correction
With limited exceptions, we will give you access to the information we retain about you within a reasonable time, upon presentation of a written request and satisfactory identification. We may charge you a fee for this service and if so, we will give you notice in advance of processing your request. If you find errors of fact in your personal health information, please notify us as soon as possible and we will make the appropriate corrections.
10. Challenging Compliance
We encourage you to contact us with any questions or concerns you might have about your privacy or our Privacy Policy. We will investigate and respond to your concerns about any aspect of our handling of your information.
You can reach us at:
Gregory Wilson, Privacy Officer
William Street Eyecare
31 William St.
Brantford, ON N3T 3K3
519 759-2250
519 759-1208 (Fax)
If, after contacting us, you feel that your concerns have not been addressed to your satisfaction, you have the right to complain to the Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario at: 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400 Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8 1-800-387-0073 1-416-325-9195 (fax)