WRITTEN STATEMENT OF POLICY

Privacy of personal information is an important principle to Fordham Massage Therapy. We are committed to collecting, using, and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the goods and services we provide. This document describes our privacy policies.

WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Personal information is information about identifiable individuals. Personal information includes information that relates to:

• an individual’s personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, home address or telephone number, family status);

• health (e.g., health history, health conditions, health services received by them);

• activities and views (e.g., opinions expressed by an individual, an opinion or evaluation of an individual).

Personal information is different from business information (e.g., an individual’s business address and telephone number). This is not protected by privacy legislation.

WHO WE ARE

Fordham Massage Therapy is a massage therapy clinic committed to the highest standards of care provided by Registered Massage Therapists.

WHY WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION: PRIMARY PURPOSES

Like all medical professions, we collect, use, and disclose personal information to serve our clients. For our clients, the primary purpose for collecting personal information is to provide treatment. For example, we collect information about a client’s health history, including their family history, physical condition, function, and social situation to help us assess what their health needs are, to advise them of their options, and then to provide the health care they choose to have. A second primary purpose is to obtain a baseline of health and social information so that in providing ongoing health services we can identify changes that occur over time.

WHY WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION: RELATED AND SECONDARY PURPOSES

Like most organizations, we also collect, use, and disclose information for purposes related to or secondary to our primary purposes. The most common examples of our related and secondary purposes are as follows:

To invoice clients for services that were not paid for at the time, to process credit card payments, or to collect unpaid accounts.

Our organization believes that it should report information suggesting serious illegal behavior to the authorities. External regulators have their own strict privacy obligations. Sometimes these reports include personal information about our clients, or other individuals, to support the concern. External regulators such as Canada Revenue Agency, Information and Privacy Commissioner, or Human Rights Commission, have the authority to review our files and interview our staff as a part of their mandates. In these circumstances, we may consult with professionals (e.g., lawyers or accountants) who will investigate the matter and report back to us.

The cost of services provided by our organization to clients is often paid for by third parties (e.g., motor vehicle accident insurance, private insurance). These third-party payers often have the client’s consent or legislative authority to direct us to collect and disclose to them certain information in order to demonstrate client entitlement to this funding.

Clients or other individuals we deal with may have questions about our services after they have been received. We retain our client information for a mandatory minimum of ten years after the last contact to enable us to respond to those questions and provide these services.

WHEN BOOKING ONLINE: WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

• We do not collect any Personally Identifiable Information when browsing our site. We may, however, collect information such as time of day, browser type, and IP address. This information is used to make improvements to our site.

• When you book an appointment online, we collect the personal information necessary to provide you with the service you have requested.

PROTECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION

We understand the importance of protecting personal information. For that reason, we have taken the following steps:

• Paper information is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area.

• Electronic hardware is always either under supervision or secure in a locked or restricted area. In addition, passwords are used on computers. Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies.

• Staff is trained to collect, use, and disclose personal information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance with our privacy policy.

RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We need to retain personal information for some time to ensure that we can answer any questions the client may have about the services provided and for our own accountability to external regulatory bodies. We keep our clients’ files for ten years.

We destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding them. We destroy electronic information by deleting it and, when the hardware is discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically destroyed.

YOU CAN LOOK AT YOUR INFORMATION

With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. We can help you identify what records we might have about you. We will also try to help you understand any information you do not understand (e.g., short forms, technical language, etc.). We will need to confirm your identity, if we do not know you, before providing you with this access. We reserve the right to charge a nominal fee for such requests.

If there is a problem, we may ask you to put your request in writing. If we cannot give you access, we will tell you within 30 days if at all possible and tell you the reason, as best we can, as to why we cannot give you access.

If you believe there is a mistake in the information, you have the right to ask for it to be corrected. This applies to factual information and not to any professional opinions we may have formed. We may ask you to provide documentation that our files are wrong. Where we agree that we made a mistake, we will make the correction and notify anyone to whom we sent this information. If we do not agree that we have made a mistake, we will still agree to include in our file a brief statement from you on the point and we will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?

If you wish to make a formal complaint about our Privacy Practices, please make it in writing to us. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint, ensure that it is investigated promptly and that you are provided with a formal written decision with reasons.

If you have a concern about the professionalism or competence of our services or the mental or physical capacity of any of our professional staff, please discuss those concerns with us.

For more general inquiries, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta oversees the administration of the privacy legislation in the private sector. The Commissioner also acts as a kind of ombudsman for privacy disputes. The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta can be reached at:

Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta
Unit 410, 9925 - 109 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2J8
Phone: 780-422-6860
Toll-Free: 1-888-878-4044
Email: generalinfo@oipc.ab.ca
Web Site: http://www.oipc.ab.ca