GP clinics urged to review privacy policies | Australian Doctor
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GP clinics urged to review privacy policies Tessa Hoffman
| 5 May, 2016 |
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GP clinics are being urged to review privacy policies after an investigation suggests many may be in breach of privacy law. Comments
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Last year, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) audited the privacy policies of 40 clinics against national privacy law requirements. It found that many fell short across many areas, exposing clinics to the risk of prosecution. One common fault was the absence of any statement telling patients how and why their information was being collected and protected. Related News: Audit of GP practices flags patient privacy risks Another issue was the relatively high reading age patients needed in order to understand the policies. The OAIC said nearly 80% of the policies required an education of above Grade 12 so that they could be "easily read". According to the commissioner, four practices that took part in the audit did not have a privacy policy that could be assessed. Of the remaining 36 clinics, only two explained how patients could make a privacy complaint and only two told patients how to request personal information.
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Many clinics failed to meet the legal requirement to explain in their policies how and why patients’ information was collected and stored. “GP clinics appeared to find this the most difficult requirement to address and were not fully complying with their obligations for a variety of reasons,” the report stated. Only one policy referred to how personal information was collected, used or disclosed within the MyHealth Record system. And no policy mentioned how personal information was used in the electronic transfer of prescription service. “Generally, clinics did reasonably well on security issues, with 25 or 36 privacy policies describing the reasonable steps the practice took to protect patients’ personal information,” the report said. "However, several privacy policies provided only a general statement, such as ‘information is held
http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/news/latest-news/would-your-privacy-policy-pass-... 9/05/2016