Client Privacy Policy
Introduction
Privacy of personal information is an important principle to Blue Rabbit Therapy. We are committed to collecting, using, and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide. We try to be open and transparent about how we handle personal information.
Who Does This Privacy Policy Apply To?
This document describes our privacy policy as it relates to our clients and their personal health information.
For a detailed explanation of how more general personal information is collected, used, and disclosed, please review our General Privacy Policy
What is Personal Health Information?
Personal health information is information about an identifiable individual.
Personal health information includes information that relates to:
● the physical or mental health of the individual (including family health
history);
● the provision of health care to the individual (including identifying the
individual’s health care provider);
● community and home care services;
● payments or eligibility for health care or coverage for health care;
● the donation or testing of an individual’s body part or bodily substance;
● the individual’s health number; or
● the identification of the individual’s substitute decision-maker.
Who We Are
Our organization, Blue Rabbit Therapy, includes 5–15 professionals and support staff.
We use a number of consultants and agencies that may, in the course of their duties, have limited access to personal health information we hold. These include computer consultants, office security and maintenance personnel, bookkeepers and accountants, lawyers, temporary workers to cover holidays, credit card companies, website managers, and cleaners. We restrict their access to any personal information we hold as much as is reasonably possible. We also have their assurance that they follow appropriate privacy principles.
Why We Collect Personal Health Information
We collect, use, and disclose personal information in order to serve our clients. For our clients, the primary purpose for collecting personal health information is to provide assessment and therapy services. For example, we collect information about a client’s health history — including their family history, physical condition and function, and social situation — in order to help us assess what their therapeutic needs are, to advise them of their options, and then to provide the specific services they choose to have.
We also collect, use, and disclose personal health information for purposes related to or secondary to our primary purposes. The most common examples of our related and secondary purposes are as follows:
Related Purpose #1: To obtain payment for services or goods provided
Payment may be obtained from the individual or others.
Related Purpose #2: To conduct quality improvement and risk management activities
We review client files to assess the performance of our staff and ensure that we provide high-quality services. External consultants (e.g., auditors, lawyers, practice consultants, and voluntary accreditation programs) may conduct audits and quality improvement reviews on our behalf.
Related Purpose #3: To promote our clinic, new services, special events, and opportunities (e.g., a seminar or conference) that we have available
We will always obtain express consent from the client prior to collecting or handling
personal health information for this purpose.
Related Purpose #4: To comply with external regulators
Our professionals are regulated by the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) and/or the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW), who may inspect our records and interview our staff as a part of their regulatory activities in the public interest. Each College has its own strict confidentiality and privacy obligations.
In addition, as professionals, we will report the serious misconduct, incompetence, or incapacity of other practitioners, whether they belong to other organizations or our own. Also, our organization believes that it should report information suggesting illegal behaviour to the authorities. In addition, we may be required by law to disclose personal health information to various government agencies (e.g., the Ministry of Health, children’s aid societies, Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, or the Information and Privacy Commissioner).
Related Purpose #5: To educate our staff and students
We value the education and development of future and current professionals. We will review client records in order to educate our staff and students about the provision of health care.
Related Purpose #6: To facilitate the sale of our organization.
If the organization or its assets were to be sold, the potential purchaser would want to conduct a “due diligence” review of the organization’s records to ensure that it is a viable business that has been honestly portrayed. The potential purchaser must first enter into an agreement with the organization to keep the information confidential and secure and not to retain any of the information longer than necessary to conduct the due diligence. Once a sale has been finalized, the organization may transfer records to the purchaser, but it will make reasonable efforts to provide notice to the individual before doing so.
Is what I say during therapy confidential?
Normally, everything you say in therapy is confidential. Your therapist may only disclose personal information with your consent. However, in law, there are a limited number of circumstances where disclosure of personal information is required without your consent.
These limits to confidentiality include:
● Where your therapist believes on reasonable grounds that disclosure is necessary to eliminate or reduce significant, imminent risk of serious bodily
harm (includes physical or psychological harm) to you or anyone else (e.g., suicide or homicide)
● Where disclosure is required under the Child and Family Services Act — for example, where your therapist has reasonable grounds to suspect that a child is in need of protection due to physical harm, neglect, or sexual abuse by a person having charge of the child
● Where necessary for particular legal proceedings (e.g., when your therapist is subpoenaed)
● To facilitate an investigation or inspection if authorized by warrant or by any provincial or federal law
● For the purpose of contacting a relative, friend, or potential substitute decision-maker of the individual, if the individual is injured, incapacitated, or ill and unable to give consent personally
● To a College for the purpose of administration or enforcement of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 (RHPA) (e.g., to report misconduct of
a professional within our governing body)
If you have any questions about these limitations please discuss them with your therapist.
If you ask your therapist to speak to another healthcare provider about anything related to your work in therapy, your therapist will ask for a signed consent form that states the agreed upon limits of what they can disclose. Your therapist will speak to their supervisor about issues related to their work with you but will keep all identifying material confidential.
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 either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area at all times. In addition, strong passwords are used on all
computers and mobile devices.
● To enable us to effectively provide our services, personal health information may be stored on mobile devices. All personal health information stored on mobile devices is password protected and encrypted.
● We try to avoid traveling with personal health information. However, when we do so, we transport, use, and store the personal health information
securely.
● Paper information is transferred through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies with strong privacy policies.
● Electronic information is either anonymized or encrypted before being
transmitted.
● Our staff members are trained to collect, use, and disclose personal information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance with
our privacy policy.
● We do not post any personal information about our clients on social media sites, and our staff members are trained on the appropriate use of such
sites.
● External consultants and agencies with access to personal information must enter into privacy agreements with us.
Retention and Destruction of Personal Information
We need to retain personal information for some time to ensure that we can answer any questions you might have about the services provided and for our own accountability to external regulatory bodies. However, in order to protect your privacy, we do not want to keep personal information for too long. We keep our client files for at least 10 years from the date of the last client interaction or from the date the client turns 18. We may not be able to provide files requested after the 10-year period.
We destroy paper files containing personal health information by cross-cut shredding. We destroy electronic information by deleting it in a manner that it cannot be restored. When hardware is discarded, we ensure that the hardware is physically destroyed or the data is erased or overwritten in a manner that the information cannot be recovered.
You Can Look at Your Records
With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you, by contacting the Blue Rabbit Clinic Admin
(admin@bluerabbittherapy.com). 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 and technical language). 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 $30.00 for the first 20 pages of records and 25 cents for each additional page. We may ask you to put your request in writing. We will respond to your request as soon as possible and generally within 30 days, if at all possible. If we cannot give you access, we will tell you the reason, as best we can, as to why.
If you believe there is a mistake in the information in your records, 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. At your request and where it is reasonably possible, we will notify anyone to whom we sent this information (but we may deny your request if it would not reasonably have an effect on the ongoing provision of health care). 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.
If there is a Privacy Breach
While we will take precautions to avoid any breach of your privacy, if there is a loss, theft, or unauthorized access of your personal health information we will notify you.
Upon learning of a possible or known breach, we will take the following steps:
We will contain the breach to the best of our ability, including by taking the following steps, if applicable:
○ Retrieving hard copies of personal health information that have been disclosed
○ Ensuring no copies have been made
○ Taking steps to prevent unauthorized access to electronic information (e.g., change passwords, restrict access, and temporarily shut down
system)
We will notify affected individuals.
○ We will provide our contact information in case the individual has
further questions.
○ We will provide the Commissioner’s contact information and advise the affected individual of their right to complain to the Commissioner.
We will investigate and remediate the problem by doing the following:
○ Conducting an internal investigation
○ Determining what steps should be taken to prevent future breaches (e.g., changes to policies or additional safeguards)
○ Ensuring staff is appropriately trained and conduct further training if required
Depending on the circumstances of the breach, we may notify and work with the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. If we take disciplinary action against one of our practitioners, or revoke or restrict the privileges or affiliation of one of our practitioners, for a privacy breach, we are required to report that to the practitioner’s regulatory College. We may also report the breach to the relevant regulatory College if we believe that it was the result of professional misconduct, incompetence, or incapacity.
Do You Have Questions or Concerns?
Our Information Officer, the Blue Rabbit Clinic Admin, can be reached at: admin@bluerabbittherapy.com.
The Information Officer will attempt to answer any questions or concerns you might have. If you wish to make a formal complaint about our privacy practices, you may make it in writing to our Information Officer. They will acknowledge receipt of your complaint, and ensure that it is investigated promptly and that you are provided with a formal decision and reasons in writing.
If you have concerns about our privacy practices or how your personal health information has been handled, you also have the right to complain to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario by contacting:
Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario
2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400
Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8
Telephone: Toronto Area (416/local 905): (416) 326-3333 36 / Long Distance:
1 (800) 387-0073 (within Ontario)
TDD/TTY: (416) 325-7539
FAX: (416) 325-9195
www.ipc.on.ca
This policy is made under the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004, S.O. 2004, c. 3. It is a complex statute and provides some additional exceptions to the privacy principles that are too detailed to set out here.