Privacy Policy

Who we are

We are Fix'd Group Pty Ltd (641 429 987) trading as Fixed Price Dental.

As part of the Fixed Price Dental operations, all patient records are the property of the Fixed Price Dental treating Dentist and not the property the patient. This requirement assists, if the need arises, other dental practitioners in continuing the management of a patient’s needs.

In managing our operations, we collect, use and disclose personal information. We understand the importance to our patients of maintaining privacy in relation to the personal information we hold.

This Privacy Policy sets out how we comply with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and other relevant legislation in managing your personal information.

By attending a Fixed Price Dental approved clinic, you consent to your personal information being collected, stored and used in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

What personal information do we collect and hold?

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

The types of personal information we may collect and hold about you include:

Identity

Name
Address
Date of birth
Gender
Email address
Telephone number
Healthcare identifiers
Next of kin

Billing and administration

Medicare number
Insurance membership number
Credit card number

Medical

Medical history
Clinical notes
Test results
Treatment plan
Prescribed medications
Referral details
Disease status

How do we collect and hold personal information?

We collect personal information about you in several ways, including from:

Information collected by an employee of Fixed Price Dental, such as a dental practitioner, a receptionist or a dental assistant;
Information from external health providers which is provided to Fixed Price Dental and placed on the record of the patient;
Information collected through websites in the form of online enquiries or requests for appointments;
Information collected through websites in the form of online enquiries or requests for appointments;
Someone who has responsibility for you (your parent, carer or guardian);
You directly.

When you visit our websites, a small data file called a “cookie” is stored on your computer or mobile device by our server. We use cookies to maintain user sessions and to generate statistics about the number of people that visit our websites. Generally, this information will not identify you and we do not link it back to your identity or other information that you have provided to us.

We take reasonable steps to protect patient medical records from misuse, interference and loss and also from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.

Why do we need your personal information and what do we do with it?

1. Patient care

We collect, maintain, use and disclose personal information about you in order to assist our dental practitioners to provide you with appropriate care, treatment and services.

Your personal information is used by us and our dental practitioners:

To provide you with dental care and services;
To provide you and/or your dentist with information that may assist you in managing and improving your oral health; and
As a dental history for you that allows our dental practitioners to provide you with better care as it assists with identifying changes to your dental health over time.

2. Operating our business

We use your personal information as necessary to manage our administration, including storage of data, and management of accounts and payment for the services provided to you. Specifically, we will use and, where necessary, disclose your personal information to:

Obtain payment from, as appropriate, Medicare Australia, you, your private health insurance fund or from any organisation responsible for payment of any part of your account, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs;
If the circumstances require, we may disclose your personal information to our insurers or those of our dental practitioners;
Manage and store your personal information in a secure fashion, including management and storage by third parties such as cloud service providers with contractual relationships with Fixed Price Dental or associated entities.

We may use your personal information to communicate with you, including to:

Give you important information (including by SMS or email) about the products and services offered by us;
Respond to your online enquiries or process requests for appointments;
Advertise to you particular products and services that may be of interest to you; and
Send you appointment reminders (including by SMS or email) in relation to obtaining services from us. This enables us to contact you, for example, to make follow-up appointments to discuss test results, or to remind you that you, or a dependant, are due for a particular consultation or procedure.

3. Teaching

We may use your personal information for internal teaching purposes or to monitor, evaluate, plan and improve the services provided by us. We will only use de-identified information (information that does not contain any personal details that may reasonably identify you) for these purposes.

4. Other disclosures

We may be required by law to disclose your personal information without your consent.

We take reasonable steps, and implement reasonable safeguards, to ensure the protection of the personal information that we hold. All patient information is handled securely and in accordance with professional duties of confidentiality.

Fix'd Group is subject to a range of rules relating to the periods for which health information and records must be retained. We must generally retain health information about an individual:

For 7 years from the last occasion on which we provided a health service to the individual – if we collected the information when the individual was 18 years old or older; or
Until the individual turns 25 – if we collected the information when the individual was less than 18 years old.

What happens if we do not collect your personal information?

If you do not provide us with all the personal information we request, our dental practitioners may not be able to provide services to you. We only collect as much personal information from you as our dental practitioners need to provide you with services and to allow us to obtain payment for those services.

Can you access your personal information we hold?

You may request access to the personal information we hold about you. You can also request that corrections be made to it. We will respond to your request within a reasonable time.

There are some circumstances where we are not required to give you access to or correct your personal information. We will normally give you a written notice setting out our reasons for not complying with your request and informing you of how you can complain about our refusal.

There is no fee for requesting access to your personal information or for us to make corrections. However, we will charge a fee for our costs involved in collating and providing you with access to any personal information. That fee is payable before access is given.

What to do if you would like to make a complaint about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles

If you have any concerns about how we handle your personal information or you wish to make a complaint on the basis that we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles prescribed by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), please contact us. If you would like to make a complaint, you will need to send us a written complaint (see details below).

We will endeavour to respond to your complaint within a reasonable time after it is made.

We may change this privacy policy from time to time. A current version of our privacy policy will be available on our website and will commence from the date it is made available.