Consent to Use and Storage of Personal Health Information
At Anjou Emergency Dental Centre, we are committed to providing a professional, safe, and trustworthy work environment. To deliver optimal oral health care and excellent service, we collect, store, and analyze certain personal health information that we (a) gather from you, (b) generate through diagnostic tests and treatment planning, or (c) receive from your other health care providers.
Under no circumstances will we collect, disclose, or use your information without your knowledge or consent. Only individuals with a clinical need (or related administrative need) to know information will be authorized to access it. Similarly, we adhere to the principle that only the minimum necessary information required for a task or function will be disclosed. Our staff has been trained on the importance of maintaining the security and confidentiality of your information.
Julian Perez has been designated as the Data and Privacy Officer. If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact Julian Perez at julian.perez@dentalcorp.ca. Your feedback is valuable to us.
What information do we collect?
We typically collect several categories of information. The first includes personal details such as name, address, contact information, insurance details, and financial and billing information, which may include credit card numbers and similar details. Any collection of credit card information is done in accordance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).
We also collect and generate personal health information including:
- Medical history
- Medications
- Dental history
- Dentist visit records, recall exams, and appointments
- Diagnostic results and test outcomes
- Study models, charts, and impressions
- Treatment recommendations, plans, and progress notes
- Consent conversations records and signed consent forms where applicable
- Referral reports and specialist recommendations
How do we use your information?
We believe it's important for you to understand how we use your information. We collect, use, and disclose information about you solely for the following purposes:
- Providing safe and effective patient care
- Ensuring high-quality service
- Assessing your health needs
- Advising you on treatment options
- Communicating with you, including scheduling and appointment reminders
- Enabling communication with other health care providers involved in your care, including specialists and general dentists
- Ensuring effective follow-up of treatments, care, and billing
- Conducting anonymous teaching and demonstrations
- Completing and submitting dental fee claims and treatment estimates for assessment and payment by third parties
- Complying with legal and regulatory requirements, including communication with provincial dental regulatory bodies, the Privacy Commissioner, or any legislative review board as required by law
- Complying with court orders in legal proceedings
- Billing for goods and services
- Processing payments by credit card, cash, and personal cheque
- Recovering unpaid accounts
- Sending surveys related to our activities and services
- For internal management purposes such as resource planning, policy development, quality assurance, and human resource management
- Complying with regulatory requirements and the law in general
- If the decision to sell the clinic is made:
- Allow potential buyers to evaluate the dental clinic
- Allow potential buyers to conduct due diligence for a sale
While the above list is rather lengthy, we believe it is best to be thorough. However, many of the items listed above are likely not relevant to you.
Before using or disclosing personal information for a purpose other than those identified above, we will inform you of this new purpose and proceed only with your consent.
How are your information stored and who has access to it?
Your information may be stored physically (records, models, etc.). In this case, it is either kept by staff or stored in a locked and secure filing cabinet or safe. Digital information may be stored on encrypted file servers in secure locations or access-controlled environments. Digital information is password-protected and stored on systems that log audit trails in case unauthorized access needs to be investigated. Our systems are protected by hardware and software security measures in line with industry standards.
We may enter into agreements with specialized third-party providers for data storage and protection. Sometimes, this data is securely stored in the cloud, which may include locations outside Canada. In these cases, only those contractually obligated to secure and protect your data will have access to it. We will only enter into contractual agreements with providers who adhere to Canadian standards and legal requirements for the storage and protection of personal health information.
We may also share aggregated and non-identifiable data with research institutions or third-party providers to advance oral health care. This practice is explicitly permitted by law as it presents minimal or no risk to patients but can significantly enhance healthcare efficiency. We will only share such data with individuals or providers who enter into necessary agreements to preserve information confidentiality and safeguard data.
We work with experts to better protect your information
To meet the complex and evolving requirements of dentistry practice and dental clinic administration, we collaborate with experts to enhance the healthcare services we provide and make the administration of our dental clinics more efficient.
In addition to each healthcare provider's independent obligation to respect and protect your privacy rights, our dentists and healthcare providers partner with SERVICES DENTAIRES S. SGRO INC., which, among other things, is our designated holder of patient health information. Services de santé DCC (Québec) Inc. provides information management, administration, and technical services to our clinic.
As an information manager, SSD uses industry best practices and technologies as well as a robust cybersecurity program to protect patient privacy and ensure compliance with all local and federal laws.