Privacy Policy
Privacy of personal information is an important principle to A Balanced Body Health Services. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the goods and services we provide. We also try to be open and transparent as to how we handle personal information. This document describes our privacy policies.
What Is Personal Information?
Personal information is information about an identifiable individual. Personal information includes information that relates to their personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, income, home address or phone number, ethnic background, family status), their health (e.g., health history, health conditions, health services received by them) or their activities and views (e.g., religion, politics, opinions expressed by an individual, an opinion or evaluation of an individual). Personal information is to be contrasted with business information (e.g., an individual’s business address and telephone number), which is not protected by privacy legislation.
Who We Are
Our organization, A Balanced Body Health Services, includes registered massage therapists, Physiotherapists and support personnel. We use a number of consultants and agencies that may, in the course of their duties, have limited access to personal information we hold. These include TOG and Hemmerich, Flanagan, Kratz, Eamer & McRae LLP. 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.
We Collect Personal Information with the purpose to serve you better. Like all health clinics, we collect, use and disclose personal information in order to facilitate your course of treatment.
For our clients, the primary purposes for collecting personal information are as follows:
- to be able to request recent examination results from your doctor’s office or Hospital/laboratory
- to be able to contact a relative or friend in case of Emergency
- Examples of the type of personal information we collect for those purposes include the following: home address, phone number, e-mail, health card number.
For contract staff, our primary purposes for collecting personal information are as follows:
- to ensure they are in good standing with their regulatory bodies
- to be able to reach them when their services are needed
- to be able to perform financial transaction for their reimbursement for services provided
When we investigate, audit or assess a person for someone else our primary purposes for collecting personal information are as follows:
- to be able to identify the person
- to be able to request medical information
We Collect 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 our related and secondary purposes are as follows:
- to be able to inform you of new services and products
- to remind you about your next appointment
You can choose not to be part of some of these related or secondary purposes (e.g., by declining special offers or promotions, by paying for your services in advance).
Protecting Personal Information
At A Balanced Body Health Services 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, passwords are used on computers.
- Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies.
- Electronic information is transmitted either through a direct line or is anonymized or encrypted.
- Staff is trained to collect, use and disclose personal information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance with our privacy policy.
- 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, we do not want to keep personal information too long in order to protect your privacy.
We keep our client files for minimum of 10 years from the date of the last entry in the record or 10 years after they have reached or would have reached 18 years of age. Our client and contact directories in our computer are much more difficult to systematically destroy, so we remove such information when we can if it does not appear that we will be contacting you again. However, if you ask, we will remove such contact information right away.
We destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding. We destroy electronic information by deleting it and, when the hardware is discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically destroyed. Alternatively, we may send some or the entire client file to our client.
You Can Look At Your Information. With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. Often all you have to do is ask. 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, technical language, etc.). 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 a nominal fee for such requests.
If there is a problem with the identification, 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 give you access.
If you believe there is a mistake in the 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 we made a mistake, we will make the correction and notify anyone to whom we sent this information. 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 and we will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.
Do You Have a Concern?
Our Information Officer, Rosen Kolev can be reached at 519-749-9600 to address 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. He will acknowledge receipt of your complaint; ensure that it is investigated promptly and that you are provided with a formal decision and reasons in writing.