PRIVACY POLICY FOR INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING

Privacy of personal information is an important principle to Registered Dietitian Jess. I am committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services I provide. I also try to be open and transparent as to how we handle personal information. This document describes my privacy policies.

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 I AM

Registered Dietitian Jess, includes Jessica Hofstede Registered Dietitian. I interact with 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, office security and maintenance, bookkeepers and accountants, a file storage company, temporary workers to cover holidays, credit card companies, cleaners, landlords and lawyers. I restrict their access to any personal information we hold as much as is reasonably possible. I also have their assurance that they follow appropriate privacy principles.

I COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

PRIMARY PURPOSES 

About Clients

Like all Registered Dietitians, I collect, use and disclose personal information in order to serve my clients. For my clients or when I assess a client for someone else (e.g., an auto insurance company), the primary purpose for collecting personal information about you is to provide you with dietetic services. I collect information about your health and diet history, your physical condition and function, and your social situation in order to help us assess what your needs are, to advise you of your options and then to provide the health care you choose to have.

A second primary purpose is to obtain a baseline of health and social information so that in providing ongoing health services I can identify changes that are occurring over time. It would be rare for me to collect such information without the client’s express consent, but this might occur in an emergency (e.g., the client is unconscious) or where I believe the client would consent if asked and it is impractical to obtain consent (e.g., a family member passing a message on from my client and I have no reason to believe that the message is not genuine).

About Contract Staff, Volunteers and Students

For people who are contracted to do work for me (e.g., temporary workers), my primary purpose for collecting personal information is to ensure I can contact them in the future (e.g., for new assignments) and for necessary work-related communication (e.g., sending out paycheques, year-end tax receipts). Examples of the type of personal information I collect for those purposes include home addresses and telephone numbers. It is rare for me to collect such information without prior consent, but it might happen in the case of a health emergency (e.g., a SARS outbreak) or to investigate a possible breach of low (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, I will collect information about their work related performance and provide a report as authorized by them.

I COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

RELATED AND SECONDARY PURPOSES

Like most organizations, I also collect, use and disclose information for purposes related to my primary and secondary purposes. The most common examples of my related and secondary purposes are as follows:

  • To invoice clients for services that were not paid for at the time, to process credit card payments or to collect unpaid accounts.

  • My clinic reviews client and other files for the purpose of ensuring that we provide high quality services, including assessing the performance of our staff.

  • Registered Dietitians in Alberta are regulated by the College of Dietitians of Alberta who may inspect my records and interview my staff as part of their regulatory activities in the public interest. In addition, as professionals, I will report serious misconduct, incompetence or incapacity of other practitioners, whether they belong to other organizations or my own. Also, my organization believes that it should report information suggesting serious illegal behaviour to the authorities. External regulators have their own strict privacy obligations. Sometimes these reports include personal information about my clients, or other individuals, to support their concern (e.g., improper services). 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 my files and interview my staff as a part of their mandates. In these circumstances, I may consult with professionals (e.g., lawyers, accountants) who will investigate the matter and report back to me.

  • The cost of some services provided by the organization to clients is paid for by third parties (e.g., auto insurance companies, 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.

  • Clients or other individuals I deal with may have questions about my services after they have been received. I also provide ongoing services for many of my clients over a period of months or years for which my previous records are helpful. I retain my client information for a minimum of ten years after the last contact to enable me to respond to these questions and provide these services (my regulatory College also requires us to retain our client records).

  • If Registered Dietitian Jess or its assets were to be sold, the purchaser would want to conduct a “due diligence” review of the 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 my 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 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

I understand the importance of protecting personal information. For that reason, I 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 at all times. In addition, passwords are used on computers.

  • Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes.

  • Electronic information is transmitted either through a direct line or as a password protected document via email.

  • 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

I need to retain personal information for some time to ensure that I can answer any questions you might have about the services provided and for my own accountability to external regulatory bodies. However, I do not want to keep personal information too long in order to protect your privacy. As per healthcare policies, I retain personal health information for ten years following the last date of service (or ten years following the client's eighteenth birthday, whichever is longer). I destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding. I destroy electronic information by deleting it and, when the hardware is discarded, I 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 I hold about you; often all you have to do is ask. I can help you identify what records I might have about you. I will also try to help you understand any information you do not understand (e.g., short forms, technical language, etc.). I will need to confirm your identity, if I do not know you, before providing you with this access. I reserve the right to charge a nominal fee for such requests.

If there is a problem I may ask you to put your request in writing. If I cannot give you access, I will tell you within 30 days if at all possible and tell you the reason, as best I can, as to why I 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 I may have formed. I may ask you to provide documentation that my files are wrong. Where we agree that I made a mistake, I will make the correction and notify anyone to whom I sent this information. If we do not agree that I have made a mistake, I will still agree to include in my file a brief statement from you on the point and I will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?

I, Jessica Hofstede can be reached at: 

Email: dietitian.jessrd@gmail.com​

Phone: 306-843-8197

I will attempt to answer any questions or concerns you might have. 

​If you wish to make a formal complaint about my privacy practices, you may make it in writing to me, Jessica Hofstede Registered Dietitian. I 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 my services or the mental or physical capacity of any of my professional staff I would ask you to discuss those concerns with me. However, if I cannot satisfy your concerns, you are entitled to complain to my regulatory body:

College of Dietitians of Alberta

1320, 10123 99 Street

Edmonton, AB

PHONE 1-780-448-0059

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:

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

30 Victoria Street

Gatineau, Québec

K1A 1H3

PHONE (819) 994-5444

https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/ ​​

Do you have a question? Contact me