Privacy & Anti-Spam Code for Our Dental Office
Consent to Use and Store Personal Health Information
At OMG PERIO we are committed to ensuring a professional, safe, and trusted office environment. To provide you with optimized oral health care and excellent service we use, store and analyze certain personal health information that we (a) collect from you, (b) generate through diagnostic testing and treatment planning, or (c) receive from your other health care providers.
We will not collect, disclose, or use any of your information without your knowledge or consent. Only persons with a clinical (or related administrative) need to know a piece of information will be granted access to that information. In the same vein, we embrace the principle that only the necessary amount of information shall be disclosed for any task or function. Our staff is trained on the importance of keeping your information safe, secure, and confidential.
We have designated Leslie Selevan as our privacy manager/data custodian. You can reach Leslie Selevan by telephone at 905-929-8910 or email at leslieselevan@cogoeco.ca
What information do we collect?
There are a few categories of information we normally collect. The first is personal information such as name, address, other contact information, insurance information, and financial/billing information, which may include credit card numbers and other such information. To the extent we collect credit card information, it is done in compliance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).
We also collect and generate personal health information including such things as:
- Medical history
- Medications
- Dental history
- Records of dental visits, recall exams, and appointment scheduling
- Results of diagnosis and testing
- Study models, odontograms and impressions
- Treatment recommendations, treatment plans and progress notes
- Records of consent conversations and when appropriate, signed consent forms
- Referral/Specialists reports and recommendations
How do we use your information?
We believe it is important that you know how we use your information. First, we only collect, use, and disclose information about you for the following purposes:
- To deliver safe and efficient patient care
- To ensure high-quality service
- To assess your health needs
- To advise you of treatment options
- To establish and maintain communication with you, including to schedule and remind you of appointments
- To enable us to contact you
- To communicate with other health care providers, including specialists and general dentists involved in your care
- To allow us to efficiently follow-up for treatment, care, and billing
- For teaching and demonstrating purposes on an anonymous basis
- To complete and submit dental claims and estimates for third party adjudication and payment
- To comply with legal and regulatory requirements, including communication with the provincial dental regulator, privacy commissioner or any statutory review board as required under legislation
- To comply with a court order in the event of legal proceedings
- To invoice for goods and services
- To process credit card, cash, and personal cheque payments
- To collect unpaid accounts
- To send you surveys relating to our business and services
- For internal management purposes, such as resource planning, policy development, quality assurance, and human resource management
- To comply with regulatory requirements and the law generally
- In the event that a decision to sell the practice is made:
- To permit potential purchasers to evaluate the dental practice
- To allow potential purchasers to conduct an audit in preparation for a sale
While the above list is rather long, we believe it better to be over-inclusive. Many of the items listed above are unlikely to apply to you.
Before personal information is used or disclosed for a purpose not previously identified, we will advise you of this new purpose or disclosure and will only proceed with your consent.
How is your information stored and who has access to it?
Your information may be kept in physical form (files, models, etc.) in which case it is either guarded by staff or stored in a locked and secure file cabinet or safe. Digital information may be stored on encrypted file servers in secure/access-controlled locations. Digital information is password protected and stored on systems that save audit trails in the event unauthorized access must be investigated. Our systems are protected by industry-standard IT security hardware and software measures.
We may enter into agreements with third-party providers specializing in data storage and protection. Sometimes that data is securely stored in the cloud, which may include locations outside of Canada. In those instances, only persons contractually obligated to secure and protect your data will be able to access that data. We will only enter into contractual agreements with providers that meet Canadian legal standards and requirements for storage and protection of personal health information.
We may also share aggregated and non-identifiable data with research institutions or third-party providers to advance oral health care. This is explicitly permitted by legislation as it poses minimal to no risk to patients but has the potential to greatly enhance health care effectiveness. We will only share such data with persons or providers who enter into the necessary agreements to keep information confidential and to safeguard and protect such data.
CANADIAN ANTI-SPAM LEGISLTATION
OMG Perio may communicate with you via electronic means in the form of e-mail or texting. We strive to ensure that our communications do not contain any spam. “Spam” refers to any unsolicited Commercial Electronic Messages (or CEMs) that have been sent without consent. We require all CEMs from our Office to be in compliance with Privacy Laws. If we communicate with you using CEMs, you can opt out of receiving such messages by following the “Unsubscribe” link included at the bottom of such messages.