What information we collect
To provide dermatology care we collect the information needed to identify you, to assess and treat you and to be paid for that care. This includes:
- Your name, date of birth, address, telephone numbers and email address
- Your Ontario health card number and version code
- The referral from your physician or nurse practitioner and the reason for it
- Your medical history, medications, allergies and family history where relevant
- Examination findings, clinical images, biopsy and laboratory results and pathology reports
- Treatment records, including phototherapy doses and responses, prescriptions and follow up plans
- Correspondence with your referring physician and other health care providers
- If you take part in a clinical study, the additional information the study protocol requires, collected under a separate consent
Why we collect it
We collect, use and disclose personal health information to provide and coordinate your care, to communicate with your referring physician and other providers in your circle of care, to bill OHIP, to maintain the clinical record the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario requires us to keep, to manage risk and quality within the practice, and to meet legal obligations such as mandatory public health reporting. We do not sell personal health information and we do not use it for marketing.
Who may see it
Within the practice, access is limited to the physicians and staff who need the information to do their jobs: the dermatologists, nursing and phototherapy staff, the referral desk and administrative team, and, for study participants only, the research coordinator. Every member of staff is bound by a confidentiality agreement.
Outside the practice, we share information with your consent, which PHIPA allows us to assume for the purpose of providing care unless you tell us otherwise. This means we send consultation and follow up reports to the physician who referred you and to your primary care provider, and we share information with laboratories, pathologists, pharmacies and hospitals involved in your care. We also disclose information where the law requires or permits it, for example to OHIP for billing, to public health authorities for reportable conditions, to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in a regulatory matter, or under a court order.
If you take part in a clinical study, information is shared with the study sponsor, its monitors and the research ethics board only as set out in the study consent form you sign, and usually in coded form that does not directly identify you.
You may withdraw or limit your consent to sharing within your circle of care. This is sometimes called a lockbox. Tell us if you wish to do so and we will explain what it means for your care.
How it is protected
Records are held in an electronic medical record system with individual user accounts, role based access and audit logs, and in locked storage for any paper records. Systems are password protected and encrypted, and staff are trained in privacy obligations when they join and periodically afterwards. Information is retained for the period the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario requires and is then securely destroyed. In the event of a privacy breach, we will notify affected individuals at the first reasonable opportunity and notify the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario where PHIPA requires it.
Please note that the referral fax line and ordinary email are not fully secure channels. We ask that patients do not send detailed clinical information or images by email unless we have asked for them and explained the risks.
Your rights
Under PHIPA you have the right to:
- Access your record. You may ask to see or receive a copy of your personal health information. We respond within 30 days, and a reasonable fee for copying may apply. Access can be refused only in the limited circumstances PHIPA sets out, and we will tell you why.
- Request a correction. If you believe a record is inaccurate or incomplete, you may ask us to correct it. Where we agree, we will amend the record and notify anyone we have shared it with. Where we do not agree, you may attach a statement of disagreement to the record.
- Withdraw or limit consent to sharing within your circle of care, as described above.
- Make a complaint. You may raise a concern with the practice, and you may complain to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.
Oversight
The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario oversees compliance with PHIPA. You may contact the Commissioner at 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8, by telephone at 1 800 387 0073, or through ipc.on.ca.
This website
This website does not collect personal health information. It has no patient portal, no online forms that accept clinical detail and no online referral submission. Referrals are sent by fax.
Like most websites, it may record technical information about visits, such as pages viewed, the type of browser and device used, approximate location derived from an IP address and the site that referred the visitor. This information is used in aggregate to understand how the site is used and to keep it working. It is not linked to any clinical record. The site may set cookies for this purpose. You can refuse or delete cookies in your browser settings; the site will continue to work. The specific analytics provider, if any, and its data retention period are to be confirmed before publication.
If you email the clinic, the content of your message is used only to respond to you. Please do not include health card numbers or clinical detail in an unsolicited email.
Privacy questions
Questions, access and correction requests and complaints should be directed to the practice's privacy officer, whose name is to be confirmed before publication, by calling 905 625 5600 or by writing to DermCare, 1065 Canadian Place, Unit 206, Mississauga, Ontario L4W 0C2.
Date this statement was last reviewed: to be confirmed.