Privacy Policy

Privacy of personal information is an important principle to the Cochrane Temiskaming Children’s Treatment Centre.  We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide. 

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 ARE WE?

The Cochrane Temiskaming Children’s Treatment Centre provides services to Children with physical disabilities and as well as those experiencing fine and gross motor difficulties.  The Centre employs Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Social Workers as well as other Administrative and Clinical Staff.  We also from time to time, contract services to various private practitioners such as a Speech Pathologist, an Occupational Therapist, etc.  We have their assurance that they follow appropriate privacy principles.

WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION:

PRIMARY PURPOSES

For our Clients, the primary purposes for collecting personal information are as follows: Provision of Therapy Services, Provision of Recreation/Leisure Services, Provision of Living Skills Services.  Examples of the type of personal information we collect for those purposes include the following: Name, home contact information, Ontario health card number (for some clinics), age, language, health history, health conditions, diagnoses, assessment results, health services provided to or received, health information collected in the course of providing services, prognosis or other opinions formed during assessment and treatment, compliance with assessment and treatment, reasons for discharge.

For our Staff, volunteers and students, the primary purposes for collecting personal information are as follows:  To manage the Human Resources of the Centre.  Examples of the type of personal information we collect for those purposes include the following: name, home contact information, health insurance number, social insurance number, insurance benefit coverage, language, education/training, transaction history with the organization, profession, work hours, criminal police check, disciplinary actions against the individual, intentions, letters written to the Centre by the individual, evaluations about the individual.

WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION: SECONDARY AND RELATED PURPOSES

Like most organizations, the Children’s Treatment Centre also collects, uses and discloses information for purposes related to or secondary to our primary purposes.

• To call clients back for a program or clinic.

• To manage wait lists

• To advocate for additional funding

• To communicate with the Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) in our catchment area re: billings and services for children within the School Health Support Services Program

• To determine if a child is eligible for a particular research study

• To determine a client’s eligibility for a particular therapy or recreation group

• To send clients Newsletters and information about new programs and clinics offered at the Centre.

• To review client files to ensure that we are providing high quality services.

• To assess the performance of our Staff, Students and Volunteers. External Consultants such as independent financial auditors, reviewers from Professional Colleges, may review client files and interview Staff Members. Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists and Social Workers are regulated by their respective Professional Colleges who may inspect our records and interview our Staff as a part of their regulatory activities in the public interest.  In addition, as professionals, we will report serious misconduct, incompetence or incapacity of other practitioners, whether they belong to other organizations or our own.  Also, our organization believes that it should report information suggesting serious illegal behaviour to the authorities.  Various government agencies such as Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, Human Rights Commission have the authority to review our files and interview our staff as a part of their mandates.

• The cost of therapy equipment, orthotics, etc. is sometimes paid for by third parties such as Assistive Devices Program, private insurance.  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.

• The Centre retains our client information for a minimum of ten years after the last contact to enable us to respond to questions from you or other individuals about the services you received.  Our regulatory Colleges also require us to retain our client records.

UNLESS A CLIENT TELLS US NOT TO….

·         We can disclose your child’s health information to other service providers in the “Circle of Care”.

·         Your child’s “Circle of Care” includes

1.       Children’s Mental Health Agencies

2.       Hospitals

3.       Physicians

4.       Community Care Access Centres

5.       Agencies providing services to children and adults with developmental delays

·         The “Circle of Care” DOES NOT include

1.       insurance carriers

2.       lawyers

3.       children’s aid societies

4.       schools/school boards

Your express consent will be needed in order to disclose your child’s health information to these services.

IF YOU WISH TO LIMIT OR WITHDRAW YOUR CONSENT

·         You may limit your consent to share only specific documents with others

·         You may also limit your consent to share information with only certain members of the “Circle of Care”

·         You may withdraw your consent to share information entirely

Any of the above decisions will need to be communicated to the Centre’s Privacy Officer (contact information is at the end of this brochure) by you either in writing or by phone.

PROTECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION

The Children’s Treatment Centre understands the importance of protecting personal information. 

·      Paper information is maintained in a restricted area.

·      Electronic hardware is either under supervision or in a restricted area at all times.  Passwords are used on computers.  All of our cell phones are digital, which signals are more difficult to intercept.

·      Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies.

·      Electronic information is anonymized.

·      Staff are instructed 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.

DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding.  We destroy electronic information by deleting it.

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.  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 can be reached at:
733 Ross Avenue East, Timmins, ON  P4N 8S8
Tel: (705) 264-4700 1-800-575-3210 Fax: (705) 268-3585
www.nt.net~children/index.html,  mrouleau@ntl.sympatico.ca

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.

If you have a concern about the professionalism or competence of our services or the mental or physical capacity of any of our professional staff we would ask you to discuss those concerns with us.  However, if we cannot satisfy your concerns, you are entitled to complain to our regulatory bodies:

College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario
160 Bloor Street East, Suite 1125, Toronto, Ontario  M4W 1B9
Tel: (416) 975-5347, 1-800-993-9459, Fax: (416) 975-8394, caslpo@caslpo.com

College of Physiotherapists of Ontario
230 Richmond St. W., 10^th Floor, Toronto, ON  M5V 1V6
Tel: (416) 591-3828, 1-800-583-5885, www.collegept.org

College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario
20 Bay Street, Suite 900, Toronto, ON, M5J 2N8
Tel: (416) 214-1177, Fax: (416) 214-1173, www.coto.org

Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers
80 Bloor Street West, Suite 700, Toronto, ON M5S 2V1
Tel: (416) 972-9882, 1-877-828-9380, Fax: (416) 972-1512, www.ocswssw.org

This policy is made under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Personal Health Information Privacy Act of Ontario.

For more general inquiries, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Canada oversees the administration of the privacy legislation.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner can be reached at:
112 Kent Street, Ottawa, ON   K1A 1H3
Tel (613) 995-8210, 1-800-282-1376, Fax: (613) 992-9190,  www.privcom.gc.ca

You have a right to complain to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.

Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
2 Bloor Street East – Suite 1400, Toronto, ON   M4W 1A8
Phone: 1-800-387-0073, Fax: (416) 325-9195,  info@ipc.on.ca