Privacy Policy
Privacy of your personal information is very important to us. Heather Grewar is the Health Information Custodian for Core Connections Physiotherapy.
Our team is comprised of physiotherapists who are each registered with the College of Physiotherapy of Ontario:
Heather Grewar, Founder, Owner, Registered Physiotherapist
Galia Carranco Herrera, Registered Physiotherapist
Susan Netherton, Registered Physiotherapist
Monate Praamsma, Registered Physiotherapist
Terri Robicheau, Registered Physiotherapist
Each of our team members who come in contact with your personal health information is trained in appropriate uses and protection of your health information. Our privacy standards are reviewed on a regular basis.
We’ve adopted the following guidelines in order to inform you about the purpose for collecting your personal information and how we use and disclose your personal information.
The purpose for collecting your personal information
Our primary purpose for collecting our clients’ personal information is to be able to provide physiotherapy services. The type of personal information we collect include:
- name
- home address
- date of birth
- physician contact information
- emergency contact information
- third party billing information
We collect occupational and lifestyle information including:
- occupation
- ergonomic considerations
- social history
- lifestyle behaviours
We take a full history including:
- a detailed medical and musculoskeletal history
- subjective symptoms and goals
- results of previous treatments and relevant investigations
We document the details of our objective assessment including:
- consent to assessment and treatment
- clinical findings
- analysis
- clinical impressions and recommendations
- treatment plan
- treatments performed
- instructions regarding home exercises and recommendations
- results of reassessments
- client adherence
- involvement of other care providers
- clinical outcomes
- discharge status
We keep a complete record of all financial transactions.
Privacy Requirements
All Registered Physiotherapists in Ontario must comply with the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) that protects the confidentiality of personal information and personal health information. For more information visit this link. All clinical and financial records are retained for at least 10 years from the date of the last client encounter in accordance with the College of Physiotherapy of Ontario.
How your information is shared
We will release your personal information to the select people that you give your explicit written voluntary consent. An example of these persons may include your referring physician or medical specialist or your massage therapist. Similarly, we will request the release of relevant medical reports such as X-ray, CT or MRI reports with your explicit written voluntary consent.
How we protect your information
All of our clinical files including your personal information are stored electronically through a Canadian electronic medical software company called Juvonno. All of the data is continuously being backed concurrently on 10 servers using 256-bit encryption in a secure facility in Toronto which is monitored 24/7. All of our clinicians use strong passwords to login into the medical software. Our clinic computers are protected with strong passwords. The medical software is set to log off every 30 minutes. The clinic premises are protected by an alarm.
No persons outside of Core Connections Physiotherapy have access to our medical software except the following, each of who has restricted access to specific parts of the medical record and who abides by their respective professional privacy standards:
- Receptionists
- Clinic adminstrators
- Juvonno technical support workers (software troubleshooting)
- College of Physiotherapists of Ontario (audit purposes)
- Duty by law to report
Paper files
All paper files containing personal information are shredded.
Fax communications
We use an online Canadian PHIPA-compliant fax service called SRFax. Outbound faxes are sent over a secure SSL connection. Our fax cover sheets highlight the confidential nature of the material enclosed and include a standard disclaimer that the fax should not be distributed, copied, or disclosed to any unauthorized persons, in addition to instructions for the recipient to follow in the case where the fax is received in error.
Email communications
When you provide your email address to Core Connections Physiotherapy it will be used to receive automatic email appointment confirmations and reminder and to receive emails regarding upcoming appointment or scheduling changes.
E-mail addresses and telephone numbers are never sold or disclosed to third parties nor shared with any other organization for any purpose.
Please do not send us sensitive or confidential information by email. You can upload your medical reports through the portal.
If you would like to receive email updates about our physiotherapy webinars, classes, workshops and events, please click on “Subscribe” at the top-right of the homepage of the website (www.core-connections.ca). You can unsubscribe from these emails at any time.You can unsubscribe from these emails at any time.
Transfer of Information
Core Connections Physiotherapy reserves the right to transfer all of its collected data in the event of a full or partial acquisition of the clinic.
Do you have a concern?
Please contact Heather directly if you have any concerns or if you would like to make a formal complaint about the privacy practices of Core Connections Physiotherapy:
Email: heather@core-connections.ca
Tel: 613-291-2956
For more general inquiries, please contact the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario at:
2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400 Toronto, ON
M4W 1A8
info@ipc.on.ca
Tel: 416-326-3333
Toll free: 1-800-387-0073
