Privacy policy.

This website and clinic are operated by Melbourne East General Practice Network, trading as Outcome Health (ABN 86 129 637 412). Outcome Health Psychiatry & Mental Health Services is a consulting psychiatry service operated by Outcome Health.

In this notice:

• "you" means a current or prospective patient, a patient's authorised representative, a healthcare referrer, or another person who contacts us
• "we", "us" and "our" mean Melbourne East General Practice Network, trading as Outcome Health

For privacy enquiries or complaints, contact the Privacy Officer at admin@outcomehealth.org.au or write to Ground Floor, 1 Chapel Street, Blackburn VIC 3130.

We collect personal and health information that is reasonably necessary to assess enquiries, arrange appointments, provide safe and appropriate psychiatric care, administer our services and meet our legal obligations.

Depending on how you interact with us, this may include:

• your name, date of birth, address and contact details
• Medicare, private health insurance and billing information
• referral information and the reason for seeking care
• medical, psychiatric, medication, family and developmental history
• screening and assessment responses
• consultation notes, treatment plans and correspondence
• information provided by your general practitioner, other treating clinicians or authorised representative
• information you provide by telephone, email or through our website
• for referrers, professional contact details, practice information and provider number

We generally collect information directly from you. We may also receive information from your referring general practitioner, another treating healthcare provider, an authorised representative, Medicare, a private health insurer, or another person involved in arranging your care.

If we cannot collect the information we reasonably need, we may be unable to assess your enquiry, offer an appointment, provide safe care or process Medicare or insurance claims.

We use your information to:

• assess referrals and enquiries
• arrange and manage appointments
• provide and coordinate psychiatric care
• communicate with you, your referring general practitioner and other healthcare providers involved in your care
• process Medicare, private health insurance and other authorised billing
• manage clinical, administrative and financial records
• meet professional, legal, regulatory and public health obligations
• monitor and improve the quality and safety of our services

We collect sensitive and health information with your consent, or otherwise where collection is permitted or required by law.

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal or health information. We do not use it for advertising or direct marketing without your specific consent.

We may disclose information relevant to your care or the administration of our services to:

• your referring general practitioner
• other healthcare providers involved in your care, such as psychologists, allied health professionals, specialists, hospitals or pharmacies
• Medicare, private health insurers or other funding bodies for billing and claims
• service providers that support our clinical and administrative systems, including Halaxy
• government agencies, regulators, courts or other authorities where disclosure is permitted or required by law

Information may be shared with healthcare providers where you have consented, where it is reasonably expected and directly related to your care, or where disclosure is otherwise permitted or required by law.

If we want to use or disclose your information for a substantially different purpose, we will seek your consent unless the use or disclosure is permitted or required by law.

Our primary electronic clinical record system is Halaxy. We use reasonable technical, organisational and physical safeguards to protect information from loss, misuse, interference, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Access is restricted to authorised clinicians and staff who require it for their work.

Halaxy states that Australian customer data is stored in Australia and protected through encryption at rest and in transit.

We retain:

• adult clinical records for at least seven years after the last occasion on which healthcare was provided
• records created when a patient was under 18 until the patient reaches 25 years of age
• records for longer where required for clinical, legal, insurance or regulatory reasons
• enquiry-form information for people who do not become patients for up to 12 months, unless it must be retained for longer

You may ask us to delete enquiry information earlier. We will consider the request subject to our legal, clinical and operational obligations.

Subject to applicable law, you may ask us to:

• provide access to personal or health information we hold about you
• correct information that is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date
• explain how we have collected, used or disclosed your information
• investigate a concern or complaint about how your information has been handled

We may need to verify your identity before processing a request. Some lawful limitations and fees may apply to requests for access.

Contact the Privacy Officer at admin@outcomehealth.org.au. We will acknowledge your concern and aim to respond within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or the Victorian Health Complaints Commissioner at hcc.vic.gov.au.

Making a privacy enquiry or complaint will not affect the quality of care you receive from us.

When you use this website, we may collect limited technical information, such as your internet protocol address, browser type, device type, pages visited and the date and time of your visit.

Information submitted through an online enquiry form is sent to our intake team and used to respond to and manage your enquiry. It is not used for advertising or marketing without your consent.

The website may use essential browser storage to remember preferences. We may also use privacy-preserving analytics to understand which pages are useful and how the website is used.