The Detail

How We Handle Your Information

What We Collect

We collect only what safe and effective care requires, or what the law requires. That typically includes:

• Your name, contact details, date of birth and health card number
• Your health history, current concerns, diagnoses and treatment records
• Assessment findings, questionnaire responses and device-based measurements
• Insurance and funding details, including claim and policy numbers
• Correspondence about your care, and records received from other providers with your consent

Why We Collect It

To assess and treat you; to communicate with others involved in your care where you have consented; to obtain funding approval and process billing; to meet the record-keeping requirements of our regulatory colleges; and to comply with the law.

In addition, we do not sell your information, and we do not use it for marketing.

Who May See It

For example, only those who need to. Within our practice, only the clinicians and administrative staff involved in your care can access it. Outside it, we disclose information in defined circumstances:

• With your consent, to your physician, lawyer, case manager, or another provider you have asked us to work with.
• To your insurer, where you are claiming funding. For instance, insurers require clinical information to approve treatment, and submitting a plan means disclosing the findings that support it. We tell you what we are sending.
• Where the law requires it. This includes suspected child abuse or neglect, a serious risk of harm to yourself or another person, a court order or summons, and reporting obligations imposed on regulated health professionals.
• To our regulatory colleges, if we review your file as part of a quality assurance or complaints process.

How We Protect It

We hold records in an encrypted electronic health record with access controls and audit logging. We store any paper records in locked cabinets in secured premises. Staff receive training on privacy obligations and sign confidentiality agreements. In addition, virtual appointments use platforms with encryption appropriate to health information.

We store our records in Canada.

How Long We Keep It

Regulatory colleges require us to retain clinical records for a minimum period after the last interaction, generally ten years for adults, and for clients seen as children, ten years past their eighteenth birthday. We securely destroy records once that period has passed.

Your Rights

• Access. You may request a copy of your record. We will respond within thirty days, and a reasonable fee may apply for copying.
• Correction. If something in your record is inaccurate, you may ask us to correct it. Where we decline, we will explain why and note your statement of disagreement on the file.
• Withdrawing consent. You may withdraw or limit consent to share your information at any time; however, we will explain what effect that may have, particularly on insurer funding.
• Complaining. Raise it with us first and we will investigate. You may also complain to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, or to the clinician’s regulatory college.

A Note About Insurance Claims

If your care is funded through an auto insurer, a disability carrier or a legal claim, information will be shared with the parties funding or assessing that claim. This is unavoidable, and it is a consequence of the claim rather than a choice we make. We will always tell you what is being disclosed, and we do not disclose more than the purpose requires.

Contact

Our Privacy Officer can be reached at info@criticaltraumatherapy.com or 289-547-5911, or by mail at 166 Main Street West, Grimsby, Ontario. Fax 289-426-3227.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario can be reached at 1-800-387-0073 or ipc.on.ca.

Changes to This Policy

We review this policy periodically and will post any changes on this page. We will bring material changes to the attention of active clients.