Privacy Policy
We are committed to respecting and protecting your privacy. This statement outlines our policies and procedures with respect to collecting, using and disclosing your personal health information.
Collection of Your Personal Health Information
We collect only that information from you that we believe is reasonably necessary to provide you with services.
Use of Your Personal Health Information
Your personal health information is used to provide you with service. This includes using the information for service planning, service monitoring, and billing purposes.
All associates and affiliates of Meadowbrook Counselling & Healthcare Associates adhere to the privacy guidelines of their respective regulatory bodies. All support personnel (such as typists) of Meadowbrook Counselling & Healthcare Associates are allowed to have access to information about you only on a “need-to-know” basis. These support persons are required to sign an oath of confidentiality to protect your personal information.
Your record occasionally may be accessed for external auditing, licensing, or accreditation purposes. However, we will not allow any information that identifies you to be taken out of our premises for these purposes. All persons involved in such activities are required by law to maintain the confidentiality of accessed information.
Disclosure of Your Personal Health Information
With only a few exceptions, your personal health information will not be disclosed by your counsellor without your consent. The exceptions include circumstances in which disclosure is justified by law and allowed by your counselor’s professional ethical standards (e.g., risk of serious bodily harm or need for confidential professional consultation), or required by law (e.g., reporting of a child in need of protection, reporting a health professional who has sexually abused a client, or a court order to release information from a record).
When you are being asked to consent to the disclosure of your personal health information, you may restrict your counselor from sharing all or any part of your personal information. However, if, in his or her opinion, the information is reasonably necessary for another heath service provider to provide appropriate service, he or she is required by law to inform the other provider that you have refused consent to provide some needed information.
Your Right of Access to Your Personal Health Information Record
Should you so desire, you can make arrangements with your personal counselor to review your personal file in the presence of that counselor.
If you believe that information in your record is not accurate, you may make a written request to correct your record. If your counselor does not agree with the correction you request, you may file a notice of disagreement into your record.
Further Information
Your counsellor will speak to you directly to answer any questions you might have regarding this Privacy Policy. If you would like more detailed information at any time, would like to access or ask for a correction of your record, have a concern about Meadowbrook Counselling & Healthcare Associates’ privacy policies and procedures, or have a complaint about the way your privacy has been handled, please do not hesitate to speak or write to your counselor.
Complaints may also be addressed to:
The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400
Toronto, Ontario
M4W 1A8
Phone: 416-326-3333 or 1-800-387-0073
Fax: 416-325-9195
TTY: 416-325-7539