The privacy of your personal information is important to the Tillsonburg Massage Therapy Centre. 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 details your rights and 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, income, home address or telephone number, ethnic background, 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.

Collecting Personal Information: Primary Purposes

Like all medical professions, we collect, use and disclose personal information in order 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 in order 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.

Collecting 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 related and secondary purposes are as follows:
 

• To invoice clients for goods or services that were not paid for at the time, or to collect unpaid accounts

• To advise clients that their product or service should be reviewed (e.g., to ensure a product is still functioning properly and appropriate for their current needs and to consider modifications or replacement)

• To advise clients and others of special events or opportunities (e.g., a seminar, development of a new service, arrival of a new product) that we have available.

•  Massage Therapists are regulated by the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario who may inspect our records and interview us as part of their regulatory activities in the public interest. In addition, as a professional, we will report serious misconduct, incompetence or incapacity of other practitioners. Also, we believe that we should report information suggesting illegal behaviour 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 our concern (e.g. improper services). Also, like all organizations, various government agencies (e.g. Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Human Rights Commission, etc.) have the authority to review our files and interview us as a part of their mandates. In these circumstances, we may consult with professionals (e.g., accountants, lawyers) who will investigate the matter and report back.

•  The cost of some goods/services provided by us to clients is paid for by third parties (e.g. OHIP, WSIB, private insurance, Assistive Devices Program). These third party payers often have your consent or legislative authority to direct us to collect and disclose to them certain information in order to demonstrate client entitlement to this funding.
   

• Marketing and Personal Information

• Your personal information will never be provided to anyone outside the clinic for marketing purposes.
  
  Protecting Personal Information
  
  We understand the importance of protecting your personal information. For that reason, we have taken the following steps:

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

• Computers and backups are under supervision or secure in a locked or restricted area at all times. In addition, passwords are used on computers, and screens are locked when they are not in use.

• Electronic information is transmitted either through a direct line, or has identifiers removed, or is encrypted.

• External consultants and agencies with access to personal information must enter into privacy agreements with me.

Retention and Destruction of Personal Information

We are required to retain personal information for some time to ensure that we can answer any question you may have about the services provided and for our own accountability to external regulatory bodies.

We keep client files for ten years beyond the last treatment date according to College of Massage Therapists of Ontario regulations.

We destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding.  We destroy electronic information by deleting it and, when the hardware is discarded, physically destroying the hard drive.

Viewing your own Personal Information

With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. We will try to help you understand any information that may be unclear (e.g., short forms, technical language, etc.). If you would like a copy of your personal information, please make your request in writing. 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 grant access.

If you believe there is a mistake in your 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 there is a mistake, we will make the correction and notify anyone to whom we sent this information. If we do not agree that there is a mistake, we will still agree to include in your file a brief statement from you on the point and we will forward the statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.

Questions?

If you would like further information, you can contact the clinic. Our Massage Therapists would be happy to discuss any questions or concerns you may have.  As well, if you have a formal complaint to make concerning the clinics privacy practices, you should contact the clinic in writing.

If you have a concern about the professionalism or competence of a Massage Therapists' services or the mental or physical capacity we would ask you to discuss those concerns with the Massage Therapist. However, if the clinic cannot satisfy your concerns, you are entitled to complain to our regulatory body:

College of Massage Therapy of Ontario
1867 Yonge Street, Suite 810
Toronto, ON M4S 1Y5
416-489-2626
1-800-465-1933
Fax: 416-489-2625
www.cmto.com

For more general inquiries, the information and Privacy Commissioner of Canada 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 can be reached at:

112 Kent Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 1H3
613-995-8210 1-800-282-1376
Fax: 613-947-6850
TTY: 613-992-9190
www.pricom.gc.ca