Camrose Animal Clinic Privacy Policy

Privacy of personal information is an important principle to Camrose Animal Clinic. 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 generally defined as 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), and their animal’s health. 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, Camrose Animal Clinic, includes at the time of writing one veterinarian and four support staff. 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 computer consultants, bookkeepers and accountants, and lawyers. 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: PRIMARY PURPOSES

About Clients

Like all veterinary clinics, we collect, use and disclose personal information in order to serve our clients.  For our clients, the primary purpose for collecting personal information is to provide veterinary services.  Examples of the type of personal information we collect for this purpose includes the following: your name, your home contact information, and your animal’s history, physical condition and function in order to help us assess what their needs are, to advise you of your options and then to provide the veterinary care you choose.  We collect this information in order to meet regulatory requirements as well. 

It would be rare for us to collect such information without the client’s express consent, but this might occur in an emergency or where we would 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).

About Contract Staff, Volunteers and Students

For contract staff (e.g., temporary workers), our primary purposes for collecting personal information is to ensure that we can contact them in the future and for necessary work-related communication (e.g. sending out paycheques, year-end tax receipts).  Examples of the type of personal information we collect for those purposes include home addresses and telephone numbers. It is rare for us to collect such information without prior consent, but it might happen in the case of a health emergency or to investigate a possible breach of law (e.g., if a theft were to occur in the clinic). If contract staff, volunteers or students wish a letter of reference or an evaluation, we will collect information about their work related performance and provide a report as authorized by them.

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 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 that their animals are due for scheduled veterinary services and to ensure a service that was performed has a proper outcome, is still appropriate for the current situation and to consider modifications or replacement where necessary.
• Our clinic reviews client and other files for the purpose of ensuring the quality of our services, including assessing the performance of our staff. In addition, external consultants (e.g. auditors, lawyers, practice consultants, accreditation programs) may on our behalf do audits and continuing quality improvement reviews of our Clinic, including reviewing client files and interviewing our staff.
• Veterinarians in Alberta are regulated by the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association who may inspect our clinic and records, and interview our staff as a part of their regulatory activities in the public interest. External regulators have their own strict privacy obligations.  Also, 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 goods/services provided by the Camrose Animal Clinic to clients may be paid for by third parties (Insurance companies). 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.
• Clients or other individuals we deal with may have questions about our goods or 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 five years after the last contact to enable us to respond to those questions and provide these services (our regulatory Association also requires us to retain our client records).
• If the Camrose Animal Clinic or its assets were to be sold, the purchaser would want to conduct a “due diligence” review of the Clinic’s records to ensure that it is a viable business that has been honestly portrayed to the purchaser. This due diligence may involve some review of our accounting and service files. The purchaser would not be able to remove or record personal information. Before being provided access to the files, the purchaser must provide a written promise to keep all personal information confidential. Only reputable purchasers who have already agreed to buy the organization’s business or its assets would be provided access to personal information, and only for the purpose of completing their due diligence search prior to closing the purchase.

You can choose not to be part of some of these related or secondary purposes (e.g., by declining to receive notice of special events or opportunities, by paying for your services in advance). We do not, however, have much choice about some of these related or secondary purposes (e.g., external regulation).

PROTECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION

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. In addition, passwords are used on computers and database programs.
• Paper information is transmitted through confidential faxes or sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies.
• Electronic information is transmitted either through a direct line or is encrypted.

• Staff are 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/patient files for about 5 years. Our client and contact directories 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.

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, 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 QUESTION?

Our Information Officer, Donna Morrow, can be reached at:

Camrose Animal Clinic, 3843A – 44 Avenue, Camrose, AB, T4V 3T1

PHONE (780) 672-7800

She will attempt to answer 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. She 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.

This policy is made under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. That is a complex Act and provides some additional exceptions to the privacy principles that are too detailed to set out here. There are some rare exceptions to the commitments set out above.

For more general inquiries, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Canada oversees the administration of the privacy legislation in the private sector. The Commissioner also acts as a kind of ombudsman for privacy disputes. The Information and Privacy Commissioner can be reached at:

112 KENT STREET | OTTAWA, ONTARIO | K1A 1H3

PHONE (613) 995-8210 | TOLL-FREE 1-800-282-1376 | FAX (613) 947-6850 | TTY (613) 992-9190     www.privcom.gc.ca

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