Privacy Policy

Your Privacy 

Vascular and Interventional Radiology Queensland Pty Ltd (VIRQ) is committed to protecting your privacy.  

This Privacy Statement sets out how VIRQ (and its associated companies) collects, uses, shares, and otherwise handles and holds personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988, the 13 Australian Privacy Principles outlined in amendments to the Privacy Act 1988, made in 2014, and other Australian privacy laws, where relevant. 

Our Approach to Privacy 

To protect your privacy, VIRQ will:

  • only obtain health information necessary to provide our services to you;
  • take all reasonable steps to keep your health information secure;
  • give you access to the information we have about you in accordance with our obligations under privacy laws;
  • not disclose your personal information outside VIRQ except in accordance with this Privacy Statement or with your consent, unless we are legally authorised or required to do so;
  • provide you with an accessible complaint mechanism;
  • provide procedures and training to staff to ensure that privacy processes are followed;
  • take steps to ensure VIRQ’s external contractors comply with privacy laws; and
  • continue to review and improve our privacy practices.

How and why we collect and hold your personal information

Prospective Patients and Patients

VIRQ collects and retains personal information, including health information, about patients and prospective patients to provide:

  • vascular and interventional radiology services, which assist in providing health care to patients and prospective patients; and
  • patient-related services to Referring Health Professionals and/or other health service providers. 
  • information to Health Funds, Medicare, and Department of Veteran’s Affairs, as required, for the purpose of claiming medical rebates.

We collect personal information directly from you wherever possible, and we will usually do this when you attend our clinics, offices or other sites, but we may also obtain it by phone or through our website.  

We may also collect information about you from third parties, including from your treating health professionals, medical specialist, and/or from pathology companies or other health services that hold your results.

If you are a patient or prospective patient, health information that may be collected from third parties and held by VIRQ includes:

  • the results of any tests or procedures;
  • your clinical history (e.g. medication taken, previous test results, pathology results) and other circumstances (including family, social, medical or employment history);
  • information provided by your Referring Health Professional and/or medical specialist that is necessary for the services we provide;
  • information provided by other third parties (such as from a family member, authorised representative, or allied health professional (such as a physiotherapist, chiropractor, osteopath, podiatrist, dentist or nurse); and
  • payment and administrative information (such as your Medicare number and other individual health identifiers, workers compensation insurance, transport accident compensation, private health insurance or billing details).

Health Professionals

We collect and hold personal information about health professionals who refer patients to us for testing (Referring Health Professionals), medical specialists and hospital and clinic staff, other health service providers, individuals who supply goods and services to VIRQ and other individuals to facilitate our business activities and carry out our services.

Personal information is also collected from, and about, employment applicants.

How We Use Your Personal Information

If you are a patient or potential patient, VIRQ will use your personal information to:

  • provide imaging, vascular and interventional radiology services, and other health services;
  • make an assessment of your health status;
  • provide a specialist report to your Referring Health Professional and/or medical specialist or to third parties where required or authorised to do so (such as to a family member, authorised representative, insurer or allied health professional);
  • verify your identity if you ask for a copy of a report of any services provided by VIRQ;
  • carry out internal administrative services (such as billing and collecting any outstanding debts);
  • claim rebates from Health Funds, Medicare and Department of Veteran’s Affairs send out appointment reminders.
  • notify relevant organisations (such as medical insurers and/or legal advisors) of an incident/accident, including when a claim is made against VIRQ;
  • provide training and continuing education of professional personnel (all information is de-identified prior to this use);
  • undertake quality assurance activities, practice accreditation, customer satisfaction surveys, statistical analysis and complaint handling; and
  • respond to messages/enquiries you submit through our websites.

If you are a candidate seeking employment with VIRQ, we will use your personal information to process your application and assess your suitability for any role. We may retain your information for future reference.

If you are a health professional who refers patients to us, a medical specialist, hospital and clinic staff member, other health service provider or an individual who supplies (or is a representative of a supplier of) goods and services to VIRQ we will use your personal information for our legitimate business and service dealings with you.

Disclosure: Sharing Your Personal Information 

VIRQ shares personal information about our patients with other organisations or persons in specified circumstances. 

VIRQ will sometimes need to share personal information with persons or organisations outside VIRQ for confidential medical, insurance, legal, research, management and/or procedural reasons, which include:

  • your Referring Health Professional, employees and other health professionals in your Referring Health Professional’s clinic and any other health professional that your Referring Health Professional has asked us to copy our report to (such as your GP or another specialist);
  • consultant medical specialists or other registered health professionals involved in your ongoing health care outside of VIRQ and who have been requested to provide further advice on your medical condition;
  • hospital staff;
  • registered health professionals granted access to VIRQ’s secure web-based, password-protected Referrer Portal and other necessary information technology;
  • your representative(s) (e.g., a guardian, carer, translator/intermediary and/or authorised representative) unless you have told us that you do not wish us to disclose information to them;
  • health services, other health professionals or enforcement bodies in situations where VIRQ is informed that there is a serious threat to life, health or safety;
  • insurers for the purpose of benefits payable or other third parties for billing/accounting purposes (such as Medicare, workers compensation insurers, transport accident insurers or your private health fund);
  • our professional advisors (such as accountants, auditors and legal advisors);
  • government and regulatory authorities and other organisations, where required or authorised by or under an Australian law;
  • VIRQ’s associated entities (as that term is defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) within our corporate group structure; and
  • research bodies.

VIRQ may conduct prospective or retrospective research projects that utilise your health information. VIRQ will only use your health information where: 

  • it is reasonably necessary for research relevant to public health and the research cannot be undertaken by providing de-identified information;
  • VIRQ is satisfied all requirements for privacy and confidentiality have been met and VIRQ reasonably believes that any research body will not further share or use the personal information;
  • using the information is in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council Guidelines approved under section 95A of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) or other relevant State/Territory Privacy Commissioner’s guidelines about sharing health information for research (as applicable); 
  • the research and the sharing of information has been approved by a recognised Human Research Ethics Committee; and
  • for all prospective research projects you have provided consent.

You can contact VIRQ at the contact details below if you have any questions about the disclosure of your personal information.

VIRQ will de-identify personal information to carry out evaluations of our service quality and timeliness, including providing the de-identified information to other parties to assist us with these activities.

Access To And Correction Of Your Information

You may request access to personal information we hold about you, including reports of any vascular and interventional radiology or imaging services. If you ask for a copy of a report of any services provided by VIRQ, we may request personal information (such as your Medicare number and requesting doctor, date of birth, mobile number or email address) from you to verify your identity before providing the requested information. In some instances, charges may apply to provide copies of results or images.  We will tell you about any costs before they are incurred. In some limited circumstances we may refuse your request.

The best way to obtain your results is in consultation with your Referring Health Professional, so that they can interpret the results and explain them to you.  Your imaging findings are only one aspect of your health assessment, and your Referring Health Professional is in the best position to discuss the results and explain it along with your other findings and health test results.

VIRQ endeavours to ensure that the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, up-to-date and complete. The accuracy and completeness of that information depends on the information you provide to us.  Please let us know:

  • if there are any errors in the information we hold; and
  • of any changes to your information (such as your name, address, phone number or Medicare number).

You may request access to, and/or correction of, your personal information by contacting VIRQ via the contact details published below. 

If we refuse your request for access to or correction of your personal information, we will tell you why (unless it is unreasonable to do so). You may complain about our refusal (see Complaints section below).  

If you intend to have another person collect your images on your behalf, you must provide written consent and tell us the name of the person collecting your images.

Data Security

We take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Records are held securely for future retrieval in accordance with applicable laws and good business practice.  If VIRQ no longer needs, or is no longer required, to retain information, VIRQ will take reasonable steps to destroy the information or will ensure that the information is de-identified.

Online Access By Registered Health Professionals To Your Medical Images And Reports

VIRQ provides a secure web-based password-protected portal for health professionals and hospital medical staff to access patient images and reports (the Referrer Portal).  Your health information (such as images and reports) may be made available to health professionals through the Referrer Portal.  

Health professionals must apply to VIRQ for a username and password in order to access the Referrer Portal.  Before being granted online access they must accept the terms set out in a User Access Agreement stating that the information is required in order to provide a medical service to patients and that it will not be used or shared for any other purpose. In addition, users of the Referrer Portal are bound by privacy laws, codes of practice, employer policies and the legal and ethical obligations of professional confidentiality relevant to their profession. Our systems trace, record and store indefinitely all access activity on every patient file. 

Your health information will be accessible online via the Referrer Portal to your Referring Health Professional (e.g. to your family doctor or specialist), any other health professional who the Referring Health Professional has asked to be copied in the referral and other persons who VIRQ records show are currently involved in your care (such as hospital staff). 

Additionally, VIRQ may provide electronic access to your health information to other health professionals, specialists, allied health professional or hospital medical staff who have signed a User Access Agreement with VIRQ if they become involved in your care.  You or another person acting for you (such as a parent acting for a child) can indicate on our Privacy Collection Statement when you attend your local clinic for testing or contact us at any time using the contact details provided, if you do not want your records to be made available to another health professional.

Complaints

If you wish to complain about how we have handled your personal information, please send your complaint to VIRQ at the address below. The complaint will be investigated, and a response will be sent to you as quickly as possible (generally within 30 days of receipt of the complaint). If you are not satisfied with the response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Contact Details:
Vascular and Interventional Radiology Queensland Pty Ltd (VIRQ)
PO Box 1307, Sunnybank Hills Qld 4109
Email admin@virq.com.au

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