Last updated: 10 March 2022

BetterConsult Privacy Policy

Healthshare Pty Ltd ACN 147 153 526 (HealthShare, us or we), the operator of the website www.betterconsult.com (the Platform), recognises the importance of privacy protection. Accordingly, HealthShare complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Act).

This Privacy Policy sets out how we collect, handle, use, transmit, store and disclose your Personal Information in connection with the Platform. Capitalised terms used in this Privacy Policy are defined in the Definitions section at the end of this policy.

What types of Personal Information do we collect?

The Personal Information that we collect from you will depend on how you use the Platform, and will vary depending on whether you are a Practitioner, Patient, carer for a Patient or just a visitor to the Platform.

If you are a Patient, the Personal Information we collect about you may include the following:

information such as your name, date of birth, email address, gender, telephone number/s, family details, patient identifier (if provided to us by you or your treating Practitioner), and information necessary for us to provide the Services to you;
sensitive information such as health information, which may include your medical history, details of Practitioners and healthcare providers from whom you are receiving or have received treatment, information about your health (including current and historical symptoms, diagnoses, medical tests, medication history and your reasons for visiting a Practitioner) and other information which falls within the meaning of “health information” as defined in the Act;
details of your use of the Platform and communications with us; and
any other information that you choose to provide to us when interacting with the Platform,

but only if you provide it to us directly or if we receive it from your Practitioner’s practice management software (which is software that Practitioners use for managing the operations of their medical practice and storing the medical records of their Patients).

If you are a carer for a Patient completing a survey on their behalf, Personal Information we collect from you may include the following:

contact details such as your name, email address and/or telephone number that you may provide to us in your role as a carer for a Patient (such as where you communicate with a Practitioner on the Patient's behalf);
details of your use of the Platform and communications with us; and
any other information that you choose to provide to us when interacting with the Platform on behalf of a Patient,

but only if you provide it to us directly or if we receive it from the Practitioner’s practice management software (which is software that Practitioners use for managing the operations of their medical practice and storing the medical records of their Patients).

If you are a Practitioner, Personal Information we collect from you, or receive from your practice management software, may include the following:

information such as your name, email address, practice address, postal address, telephone number/s, medical speciality or areas of practice and other information necessary for us to provide the Services to you;
details of your use of the Platform and communications with us;
details of your appointments with Patients (such as appointment type, date, time and practice location);
information about actions you have taken within your practice management system; and
any other information that you choose to provide us when interacting with the Platform.

Why do we collect, use and disclose your Personal Information?

We may use your Personal Information for the purpose disclosed at the time of collection, or otherwise as set out in this Privacy Policy. We may otherwise disclose your Personal Information where we are authorised or required to do so under relevant laws, such as if the disclosure is reasonably necessary for law enforcement activities, or to lessen a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual.

We may collect, use and disclose your Personal Information for our business operations and activities, including:

to provide you with information you request about us or the Services we offer through the Platform;
to manage the Platform;
to provide the Services;
to inform Practitioners and their practice staff that Patients have completed the pre-consultation questionnaire and any relevant information regarding it;
if applicable, to alert Practitioners and their practice staff about Patients that are experiencing symptoms of certain medical conditions that may affect how the Practitioner will provide health services to you (such as if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19);
to understand your needs and Platform usage to help us improve the Platform and the Services we provide. We will not use your Personal Information to help us promote our Products or Services to third parties;
if necessary, to verify your identity or age; and
to comply with any applicable law, court order, regulation or other legal requirement.

From time to time we may also ask you to participate in surveys or questionnaires. These help us to improve our levels of service and to maximise the opportunities and benefits you can enjoy from our Platform and Services.

If you are a Patient, we may also collect, use or disclose your Personal Information (including health information or other sensitive information):

to provide you with a link to a pre-consultation questionnaire for you to complete prior to your consultation with your Practitioner and to tailor our pre-consultation questionnaire based on any relevant information (including your past medical history) provided by you or your Practitioner to us;
in order to provide pre-consultation notes or other information to your Practitioner, and translating and modifying the information that you provide so that it is in a language and format used by Practitioners;
to display personalised content inside the Platform regarding health services, support programs or resources that we think may help support you in better managing your health;
to perform any services you request from us; and
to provide to third parties, but only if you have provided your express consent.

If you are a Practitioner, we may also collect, use or disclose your Personal Information:

to provide you with our Services or enabling your use of the Platform, such as to:
a. communicate with you about an appointment or pre-consultation information;
b. monitor your use of the Platform or our Services; and
c. verify your identity;
to communicate with you about our Platform and Services, including potential new features and offerings that could benefit you;
to help improve our Platform and Services and the functionality we provide to Patients and Practitioners; and
to display personalised content inside the Platform regarding health services, support programs, clinical resources or patient resources that we think may be helpful for you in your clinical practice or in supporting and better managing your Patients’ health.

How do we collect your Personal Information?

We generally collect your Personal Information directly from you (including when you use the Platform, contact us or participate in surveys or questionnaires) or from your Practitioner’s practice management software.

If you are a Patient, we may also receive Personal Information about you from your Practitioners or carer, or from generating additional information and opinions about you and your health or symptoms based on other information maintained on the Platform. This generated information will constitute health information.

If you are a Practitioner, Personal Information may be received from you directly, your employer, your Patients or other sources such as public records, mailing lists or our business partners.

What happens if you don't provide us with the information we require?

If you are a Patient or carer, if you don't provide us with certain information, or if you request that we de-identify Personal Information we hold about you or the person you care for, we may be unable to provide you the information or services you wish to receive.

If you are a Practitioner, if you don't provide us with certain information, we may not be able to provide you the information or services you wish to receive. In particular, we may not be able to give you access to the pre-consultation notes from your Patients provided via the Platform. If this occurs, you will need to collect any required information directly from your Patients.

Personal Information security measures

We take reasonable precautions to protect your Personal Information from loss or unauthorised access, use, destruction, modification or disclosure. For example, your electronic information is stored on secure servers and we also encrypt your Personal Information. However, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information at all times (for example, we cannot guarantee the security of communications over the Internet).

Links

The Platform may provide links or references to other third party websites and resources. These websites and resources are not subject to this Privacy Policy. You should review the privacy policy of each third party website and resource accessed via links from our Platform and of each Practitioner to which you wish to transmit your data via the Platform, and assess whether the privacy policy of each website, resource and Practitioner is satisfactory to you before you use the website or resource or advise us to transmit the data to the Practitioner. You acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible for any Personal Information you choose to disclose to a Practitioner via the Platform or third party through our Platform or a third party website referred to by or linked to our Platform and that such Practitioners and third parties may store your Personal Information in any location in accordance with their own security standards.

To whom do we disclose your Personal Information?

We may use third party service providers to manage information that you provide where this is reasonably necessary to provide you with your use of the Platform or to provide the Services, or as is otherwise required or authorised by any laws (including the Act).

Aside from the disclosure of your Personal Information to our data hosting service providers, when we use third party service providers, we seek to keep the amount of Personal Information they hold to a minimum and use reasonable efforts to make sure they are as careful with your information as we are. Where possible, your Personal Information is anonymised or de-identified before being shared. We also encrypt your Personal Information while it is stored by us.

We may disclose Personal Information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy to:

our service providers who enable us to provide the Services and run the Platform, such as network, software and data hosting service providers;
any practice management software providers which the Practitioner uses;
our external professional advisers (such as legal advisors or accountants);
subscription and mailing operations service providers;
other third parties as required, authorised or permitted by law;
(for Patients) the Practitioner that you have previously had, or intend to have, a consultation with; and
(for Practitioners) your patients or potential patients.

Where your information is stored and disclosure outside Australia

Personal Information we collect from you is stored securely on servers located in Australia. We engage third party data hosting service providers to store and provide data hosting services in relation to your Personal Information and other information or data you may upload when using the Platform. We will store Personal Information with our data hosting service providers to the extent necessary for them to provide the storage and data hosting services required for you to use the Platform and the Services.

We do not disclose your Personal Information to any third party located outside of Australia or allow any third party located outside of Australia to access your Personal Information.

Your rights of access and correction

You have the right to request access to, or correction of, Personal Information which we have collected from you, within the requirements of the Act. However, if we have de-identified your Personal Information before you request access to, or request the correction of, your information, then we will not be able to give effect to your request (as we can no longer identify your information).

If you wish to access your Personal Information, or believe that any of the Personal Information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, please contact us at the email address shown at the bottom of this Privacy Policy. We may also need to verify your identity when you request access to your Personal Information.

We will respond to your request within a reasonable time and will take reasonable steps to correct any inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date Personal Information if you request us to do so.

We may withhold or refuse you access to your Personal Information if we are legally authorised to do so or where its disclosure to you is restricted by law, is the subject of legal action, or may compromise the privacy of another person.

We may charge you a reasonable fee to cover our administrative costs in providing you with access to your information. We will not charge a fee for simply making an access request and we will let you know if a fee would apply after you make a request.

We will not charge you a fee for making a request that your Personal Information be corrected or for correcting your Personal Information.

How can you stop receiving information from us?

As described in the 'Why do we collect, use and disclose your personal information?' section above, we may use and disclose your Personal Information for the purpose of sending you information about health-related services, programs or resources which we think may be relevant to you. This information may be displayed in the Platform or sent to you via email or SMS.

If you do not want to receive these types of information that are displayed in the Platform, then you should stop using the Platform. If you not want to receive these types of information that are sent to you by email or SMS, please email us at support@betterconsult.com or you can use the 'unsubscribe' hyperlink or follow the opt-out instructions in the message.

You cannot refuse to receive information which we are required to provide you by law.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time by posting the amended version on our Platform at www.betterconsult.com. We suggest that you visit our Platform regularly to keep up to date with any changes. The date that this Privacy Policy was last updated is set out at the top of this policy.

Contacting us or making a complaint

If you would like more information about this Privacy Policy or if you have any queries or complaints, please contact us by email at support@betterconsult.com or by postal mail at Lvl 6, 1 Newland St, Bondi Junction NSW 2022. We will take reasonable steps to try to resolve any complaints that you make as quickly as practicable. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, a further complaint can be made directly to the office of the Australian Information Commissioner though its website located at www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints.

Definitions

Unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy, words beginning with capital letters are defined in the BetterConsult Terms of Use for Patients, the BetterConsult Practice Agreement and the BetterConsult Terms of Use for Practitioners (as applicable), which are published on the Platform and updated from time to time.

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:

Patient means an individual who is a patient, or potential patient, of a Practitioner and who accesses and uses the Platform.

Personal Information means information or an opinion about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

Platform means the website located at www.betterconsult.com and any other application distribution platform (including mobile applications) through which we provide the Services.

Practitioner means a health practitioner who provides health services and who receives information about Patients through the Platform.

Services has the meaning given to that term: (a), in relation to Patients, in the BetterConsult Terms of Use for Patients; and (b) in relation to Practitioners, in the BetterConsult Practice Agreement and the BetterConsult Terms of Use for Practitioners.