Whole Kids Health Privacy Policy.
Last Updated: October 24, 2023
Privacy of personal information is an important principle to Whole Kids Health Psychology Group (“Whole Kids Health”,“us”, “we” or “our”) and we respect the privacy of our clients (“you”). We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for services we provide. We are open and transparent as to how we handle personal information. This document describes our privacy policies.
WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION/PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION?
The term “personal information” has the same meaning as set out in PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, 2011) and refers to any information about an identifiable individual including, but not limited to contact information, name address, phone number, email address, gender, and date of birth.
The term “personal health information” has the same meaning as set out in Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA, 2004) and includes information that relates to: an individual’s personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, home address or phone number, education and training, family circumstances); health (e.g. history, health conditions, health services received); or, activities and views (e.g., occupation/profession, ideas and concerns expressed by an individual). Personal information is different from business information (e.g., an individual’s business address and telephone number), which is not protected by privacy legislation. In addition, any information that has been collected in which all personal identifiers have been removed, such that the information could not reasonably be used to identify the individual, is not considered personal information or personal health information.
WHO WE ARE
Whole Kids Health Psychology Group is a group private practice that can include psychologists, psychologists in supervised practice, and senior Ph.D. psychology students working under the supervision of a psychologist, in addition to registered social workers and registered psychotherapists. The Whole Kids Health team can also include students, administrative staff, and volunteers, depending on who is working with the clinic at any given point in time.
At times, Whole Kids Health may work with other individuals and agencies that may, in the course of their duties, have limited access to personal health information we hold. These may include computer consultants, administrative support staff, bookkeepers and accountants, technical support staff, credit card companies (e.g., Stripe), private practice consultants, lawyers, and insurance providers. We only provide the information necessary to them in order to complete their respective roles and 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. Any individual who realizes that they know a client personally is expected to disclose their relationship and as such, not access that client’s personal information unless there is an emergency or unless the client has given express consent for access.
COLLECTION, USE, AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Collecting Personal Information About Members of The General Public Who Call for Information about our Services
For members of the general public, our primary purposes for collecting personal information (e.g., contact numbers, email addresses) are to provide notice of special events (e.g., a workshop) and/or to make them aware of the range of services available at Whole Kids Health and to direct them to the appropriate psychologist/clinician.
On our website we only collect, with the exception of cookies, the personal information you provide and only use that information for the purpose you gave it to us (e.g., to respond to your email message, to register for a workshop, to be notified of future events). We will upon request immediately remove any personal information from our distribution list.
Collecting Personal Information About Clients
For clients, we collect, use and disclose personal information only to provide psychological services to clients. For example, we collect information about a client’s health history, physical condition and function, and social situation in order to help us assess what their mental health needs are, to advise them of their options and then provide the health care they choose to have. We also collect and use personal information to carry out all of the functions reasonably necessary to provide those services (e.g., scheduling and billing; service planning, monitoring, and evaluation; record keeping). A second primary purpose is to obtain a baseline and ongoing record of functioning so that in providing services we can monitor treatment progress and identify changes that occur over time. An additional purpose is to collect personal, health and social information in order to provide diagnostic information, current status, and recommendations to clients’ family physician or other health care providers.
We collect personal information directly from the client unless he/she/they have provided consent for us to obtain such information from others (e.g., previous care providers, parents/guardians). It would be rare for us to collect or discloses personal information without the client’s express consent, but this might occur if the client is deemed incapable of providing consent, in an emergency situation (e.g., the client is unconscious), or where we believe the client would consent if asked and it is impractical to obtain consent (e.g., a family member passing a message on from our client and we have no reason to believe that the message is not genuine).
With respect to the disclosure of personal information, our Whole Kids Health operates in a team-based model. This means that we may consult with one another about our clients or potential referrals to facilitate the provision of quality care. Identifying information will not be used during consultations, without your expressed consent. Sharing your personal information with others outside of our practice (e.g., family doctor, parents, school) typically only occurs with the client’s knowledge and consent and would be to coordinate care or to advocate for additional supports (e.g., school accommodations, parent-based intervention), although there are some exceptions. The exceptions are listed in the confidentiality section below.
In addition, we may be required to provide information to insurance companies, credit card companies, or other third-party payers when necessary. These entities will have either obtained your consent independently or may possess legislative authority, directing us to collect and disclose specific information. This disclosure is necessary to address queries related to the services you have received. Similarly, if someone else (e.g., a parent, caregiver, or family member) is responsible for covering the costs of your services at Whole Kids Health, they are entitled to limited information. This includes the name of your service provider, the dates of your appointments, and the duration and cost of sessions, all of which are part of your billing record. However, without your consent, no other details about your treatment will be provided to them.
When consenting to the disclosure of your personal health information, you may restrict us from sharing all or any part of your personal information. However, if in our opinion the information is reasonably necessary for another health service provider to provide appropriate service, we have to inform the other provider that you have refused consent to provide some needed information.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Confidentiality is respected at all times. No information will be communicated, directly or indirectly to a third party without your/your child’s written, informed consent. There are limits to the protection of private information, and these exceptions to confidentiality include the following:
Harm to self: If you/your child pose an imminent risk of harm to yourself/themself, your/your child’s clinician is required to eliminate or reduce the significant risk of harm to yourself/themself. For example, this may involve notifying a caregiver or family member. There may be other emergency health care related circumstances where disclosure is reasonably necessary for the protection of health, in which case your/your child’s clinician may disclose personal information to other health care professionals.
Harm to others: If you/your child pose an imminent risk of harm to others, your/your child’s clinician is required to eliminate or reduce the significant risk of harm to others. For example, this may involve notifying a caregiver, other health care provider, or police.
Risk of abuse or neglect of vulnerable populations: When information is disclosed about a child under the age of 16 years of age being or at risk of being physically abused, sexually abused, sexually exploited, trafficked, seriously emotionally harmed, or neglected, your/your child’s clinician is mandated to report this information to the appropriate Children’s Aid Society. When information is disclosed of neglect or abuse of residents living in long-term care facilities or retirement homes, your/your child’s clinician is required to notify the appropriate regulating body (i.e., Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority).
Sexual misconduct by regulated professional: When information is disclosed of a regulated health professional (e.g., physician, nurse, dentist, etc.) having sexually harassed and/or sexually abused a patient in the past or presently, your/your child’s clinician is mandated to report the regulated health professional to their respective College.
Missing persons: In accordance with the Missing Persons Act (2018), in the event that there is a missing person whom the police have searched for and have not found, if the police have reason to believe that your clinician’s file may have information that would help to locate the missing person, your/your child’s clinician is required to release that information to the police.
Court order: When your/your child’s record of personal health information is requested by court order, your clinician is required to provide this record to the courts.
Regulatory review: As a part of the College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO) Quality Assurance, your clinician’s files may be externally audited. The CPO’s audit may include a review of your records. Individuals involved in the audits are licensed professionals bound by CPO standards for confidentiality.
Consultation and supervised services: Whole Kids Health operates in a team-based model, such that your/your child’s clinician may consult with other psychologists, mental health professionals, or team members on an as needed basis. This is to facilitate the provision of high-quality care. Your/your child’s name will never be used in these consultations. Certain clinicians may also require clinical supervision by a registered healthcare practitioner (e.g., psychologist). In such instances, all services will be reviewed with, and conducted under the supervision of the clinical supervisor who will have access to all relevant information. You/your child will be informed of any such supervisory arrangement and be provided with the contact information of the supervisor. You/your child will have the ability to arrange meetings with the supervisor at your request.
ADDITIONAL PURPOSES FOR COLLECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION
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:
Communicate with clients before, after or during treatment, including to distribute health care information and book/confirm appointments.
To invoice clients for goods or services that were not paid for at the time, to process credit card payments or to collect unpaid accounts.
To advise clients and others of special events or opportunities (e.g., workshop, new group) that we have available.
Psychologists in supervised or autonomous practice are regulated by the College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO) who may inspect our records and interview our psychologists as a part of their regulatory activities in the public interest. The College of Psychologists of Ontario has its own strict privacy obligations. In addition, like all organizations, various government agencies (e.g., Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Human Rights Commission, etc.) have the authority to review our files and interview our staff as a part of their mandates. In these circumstances, we may consult with professionals (e.g., lawyers, accountants) who will investigate the matter and report back to us.
The cost of some services provided by Whole Kids Health to clients is paid for by third parties (e.g., private insurance, etc.). These third-party payers often have your consent or legislative authority to direct us to collect and disclose to them certain information in order to demonstrate client entitlement to this funding (e.g., private insurance, etc.).
The Whole Kids Health Clinic Director, Dr. Stella Dentakos, may review client files for the purpose of ensuring that we provide high quality services, including assessing the performance of our staff. In addition, external consultants (e.g., auditors, lawyers, practice consultants, voluntary accreditation programs) may on our behalf do audits and continuing quality improvement reviews of our clinic, including reviewing client files and interviewing our staff.
By law and in accordance with professional standards, we are required to keep a record of our services to and contacts with you/your child. You/your child’s record includes information you provide to us or authorize us to receive, results of any assessments, your service plan, consent forms, contact notes, progress summaries, billing information, and correspondence that we have sent or received related to your service. The physical records are the property of our practice. However, you have rights regarding access to your record and regarding disclosure of information from your record (see below), regardless of the form in which the information is recorded.
PROTECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION
We understand the importance of protecting personal information and are committed to protect the security of your personal information. We have put in place reasonable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and help prevent unauthorized access, maintain data security, and correctly use your personal information.
Your personal information may be stored on our database servers or hosted by third parties who adhere to relevant legislature (e.g., PHIPA). At this time, our practice makes use of Jane, a secure, web-based practice management system to store and manage client records. This includes information such as client appointments, billing documents, session notes, contact details, and other client-related information and documents.Information about the privacy and security of Jane can be found on their website: https://jane.app/guide/privacy-and-security/privacy-compliance-for-clinics-in-ontario
Your clinician may temporarily store your personal information outside of Jane. For example, your provider may take handwritten notes that they keep in a locked area until those notes can be typed and then shredded. Although we will make reasonable efforts to protect personal information from loss, misuse, or alteration by third parties, you should be aware that there is always some risk that an unauthorized third party could find a way to thwart our security systems.
We have taken many additional steps to protect your personal information, including:
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 restriction area at all times.
Encryption and passwords are used on computers.
Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable couriers or Canada Post.
Electronic information, with the exception of email, is transmitted through dedicated line only to people and agencies that have a privacy policy.
All associates/members of our practice and administrative/support staff are trained to collect, use and disclose personal information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance with our privacy policy. Note that your information may be seen, utilized for billing/collection purposes, or discussed by associates/members of the practice, and administrative/support staff as necessary to fulfill their duties, and program planning/execution.
RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary, for the purpose for which it was collected, in accordance with the ethics and standards of The College of Psychologists of Ontario and other regulatory bodies. We are required 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.
Clients or other individuals we deal with may have questions about our services after they have been received. We also provide ongoing services for many of our clients over a period of months or years for which our previous records are helpful. We retain our client information for a minimum of ten years from the date of last contact to enable us to respond to those questions and provide these services. For clients who are seen before the age of 18, records are retained for ten years following their 18th birthday.
If our service were sold, none of the client records would be transferred to or accessed by the new owners. We destroy electronic information by deleting it and when the hardware is replaced or discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically destroyed. Personal information that is not part of the permanent clinical file is shredded or otherwise destroyed or de-identified.
We retain any personal information relating to our general correspondence (e.g., workshops, service inquiry discussion) with people who are not clients for about 12 months after the activity is over.
YOU CAN LOOK AT YOUR INFORMATION
With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. 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., abbreviations, technical language, etc.). We may need to confirm your identity, if we do not know you, before providing you with access. We reserve the right to charge a fee for such requests. 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 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.
PRIVACY POLICY CHANGES
Whole Kids Health may change its Privacy Policy from time to time (although changes are likely minor), and at the sole discretion of Whole Kids Health. We encourage clients and visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. Continued use of this Website after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.
DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?
This Privacy Policy is made under the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004, S.O. 2004, c. 3 (PHIPA) and professional regulations and ethical standards.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal information, you may contact Dr. Stella Dentakos at drstella@wholekidshealth.ca.
For general inquiries about personal health information, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario oversees the administration of personal health information legislation in Ontario. The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario can be reached at:
Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario
2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400
Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8
416-326-3333 or 1-800-387-0073
TDD/TTY: (416) 325-7539
FAX: (416) 325-9195
