Privacy Policy

Intestinal Labs is bound by the National Privacy Principles in the Commonwealth Privacy Act and by state and territory privacy laws.

Australian Clinical Labs is committed to the right to privacy and the protection of personal and health information in accordance with privacy laws.

About Intestinal Labs’ Privacy Policy

Intestinal Labs is bound by the National Privacy Principles in the Commonwealth Privacy Act and by state and territory privacy laws.

The privacy policy explains how we manage the personal and health information of patients. It also describes the sort of information we hold and why, as well as how that information is collected, held, used and disclosed.

Contacting us anonymously

Where it is lawful and practicable to do so, individuals may deal with us anonymously (e.g. when enquiring about our services generally).

Why do we collect personal information?

If an individual is to receive or has received a service from Intestinal Labs, we will collect and hold their personal information to:

• Give an understanding of the individual’s needs so we may provide them with the required service and advice.
• Improve the quality of service.
• Administer and manage those services including charging, billing and collecting debts.
• Or where required by law.

What personal information do we collect and hold?

The information collected may include an individual’s:

• Name
• Date of Birth
• Occupation
• Address (postal, residential and email)
• Telephone numbers
• Health fund and health insurance cover details
• Medical history and other health information
• Current medication
• Other information necessary for our professional function and services
• Persons to contact in case of an emergency

How do we collect personal information?

Intestinal will, if reasonable and practicable to do so, collect personal and health information directly from the individual concerned. This may take place when the individual fills out documents such as an admission form or an administrative form or when the individual gives us personal and health information in person or over the telephone.

We may collect personal and health information from third parties such as:

• An individual’s representatives (e.g. authorised representative or legal advisor)
• An individual’s health service provider
• A health professional who has treated the individual
• The individual’s family
• Other sources where necessary to provide a health service

Disclosing personal information

We respect the value of your personal information and the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Whilst disclosure of your personal information is limited, we may disclose your personal information in certain circumstances, including though not limited to:

• Continuity of care with other health service providers involved in the individual’s treatment or diagnostic services
• Providing an individual with further information about treatment options
• Conveying information to a responsible person (e.g. parent, guardian, spouse) when the individual is incapable or cannot communicate, unless the individual has requested otherwise
• Conveying information to close family member in accordance with the recognised customs of medical practice
• Management, funding, service-monitoring, planning, evaluation and complaint-handling
• Legislative and regulatory compliance
• Quality assurance or clinical audit activities
• Accreditation activities
• Health insurance funding
• Billing and deb recovery
• Addressing liability indemnity arrangements including reporting to the Pathology’s insurers and legal representatives
• Preparing the defence for anticipated or existing legal proceedings
• Research or the compilation or analysis of statistics relevant to public health and safety
• Activities directly related to the provision of health services to an individual where the individual would reasonably expect disclosure

Transborder data flows

We operate and communicate with organisations throughout Australia and overseas. Therefore some disclosures may occur outside the state or territory in which an individual is resident, and in some circumstances, outside Australia. We will only disclose information to an organisation in a country which has a substantially similar privacy regime.

Using Government identifiers

In certain circumstances we are required to collect government identifiers such as Medicare, pension or Veteran’s Affairs numbers. We will only use or disclose this information in accordance with the law.

Storing personal information

Intestinal stores personal and health information in different ways, including in paper and electronic form. The security of personal and health information is important to us and we take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse or loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Some of the ways we do this include:

• Requiring our staff to maintain confidentiality
• Implementing document storage security
• Imposing security measures for access to our computer systems
• Providing a discreet environment for confidential discussions
• Only allowing access to personal and health information where the individual seeking access to their own information has satisfied our identification requirements

Personal and health information is retained for the period of time determined by law and disposed in a secure manner.

Keeping personal information accurate and up-to-date

We take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal and health information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up to date.

However, the accuracy of that information depends largely on the quality of the information provided to us. We therefore suggest that individuals:

• Let us know if there are any errors in their personal or health information; and
• Keep us up to date with changes to their personal information (e.g. their name and address). Individuals may do this by mail or email (see “Contacting Us”)

Online Policy

Intestinal Labs is committed to protecting online privacy. In general visits to Intestinal Labs websites can be made without revealing any personal information.

Intestinal Labs websites contain links to websites operated by third parties. Intestinal Labs has no control over the privacy policies and practices of such third-party sites. When following links to other sites from Intestinal Labs website we recommend that your read the privacy statement of that site to familiarise yourself with its privacy practices.

Email addresses provided will be used to provide the requested service or response to specific user enquiries. By providing an email address to Intestinal Labs you are consenting to your email address being added to marketing mail lists, however email addresses are not disclosed to any other party without the user’s knowledge or consent, unless required by law.

Intestinal Labs may provide third parties with aggregate statistics about our visitors, traffic patterns and related site information. This data reflects site usage and does not contain identifying information.

Patient health information submitted electronically

The information about visitor’s access to an Intestinal Labs website is distinct from a patient’s health information which may (for example, in the usage of eHealth applications) be sent or stored online, where information which forms part of a patient’s medical record (‘sensitive information’) is sent electronically. The information will be subject to the same terms of this Privacy Policy, as set in the preceding pages, as if it were in a hardcopy format. We will disclose to your authorised representative or legal advisor where you have provided written authority.

Complaints

Individuals who believe that we have breached their privacy rights in any way or wish to discuss any issues about our privacy policy, should contact the Quality Manager who will attempt to satisfy any questions and correct any errors on our part (see “Contacting Us”). If the Quality Manager is not able to satisfactorily answer the individual’s concerns, the individual may contact the Australian Clinical Labs head office on (03) 9538 6777. The individual also has the right to make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner on telephone number 1300 363 992 or in writing to:

Office of The Privacy Commissioner

GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

www.privacy.gov.au/complaints

Payments

If you enter into an agreement with Intestinal, you agree with the following:

• Intestinal must receive the full amount of the charges within the terms set out on your Australian Clinical Labs Invoice
• Payments can be made by credit card, BPAY or by cheque as outlined in the Australian Clinical Labs invoice.
• If you have an enquiry or dispute regarding the service, please contact us by using one of the options under the Contact Us tab on our website or visit Intestinal.com.au/contact-us
• All credit card payments are processed using the Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) portal and will be processed in AUD.

Billing or Payment enquiries and disputes for payments via the Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) portal

You may lodge a Billing or Payment Dispute if you consider that there is an error in the amount of an invoice payable by you to Intestinal. You must immediately notify Intestinal labs in writing to AccountsReceivable.Pathology@clinicallabs.com.au.

In the instance where a refund is required for duplicate payments by you, Intestinal labs will endeavour to process these promptly. Overpayments made by credit card using the Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) portal will be returned to you where possible using the same portal. The approximate turnaround times are 1 to 5 business days for credit cards and once a month for cheques and BPay payments.

You may dispute a transaction within 60 days of the date the transaction occurred.

Privacy in relation to payments via the Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) portal

Intestinal labs does not collect or store any credit card information you provide to Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA).

Any personal information you provide to Intestinal Labs will be handled in accordance with the Australian Clinical Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about how personal information you provide to CBA when making payment by credit card will be handled, please refer to the Commonwealth Bank Privacy Policy.

Contacting Us

Individuals may ask any questions about privacy and the way we manage personal and health information, complain about the handling of their information or obtain a form requesting access to personal and health information by contacting the Quality Manager of the laboratory either by phone or in writing.

Further Information

If you would like more information about privacy in general, please refer to the Privacy Commissioner’s website: www.privacy.gov.au