Horton Park Dental

Personal Information Protection Policy

Horton Park Dental is committed to safeguarding the personal information entrusted to us by our clients/patients and patients. We manage your personal information in accordance with Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act and other applicable laws. This policy outlines the principles and practices we follow in protecting your personal information. This policy applies to Horton Park Dental and its subsidiaries. The policy also applies to any person providing services on our behalf.

What is personal information?

Personal information means information about an identifiable individual. This includes an individual’s name, home address and phone number, age, sex, marital or family status, an identifying number, financial information, educational history, etc.

What personal information do we collect?

We collect information that is necessary and relevant to provide you with dental care and treatment and manage our dental practice. This information may include your name, address, date of birth, gender, health information, family history, credit card and direct debit details and contact details. This information may be stored on our computer medical records system and/or in handwritten medical records.

Wherever practicable we will only collect information from you personally. However, we may also need to collect information from other sources such as treating specialists, radiologists, pathologists, hospitals and other health care providers

We collect information in various ways, such as over the phone, or in writing, in person in our clinic or over the internet if you transact with us online. This information may be collected by medical and non-medical staff. In emergency situations we may also need to collect information from your relatives or friends.

We may be required by law to retain medical records for certain periods of time depending on your age at the time we provide services.

Consent

We ask for consent to collect, use or disclose client personal information, except in specific circumstances where collection, use or disclosure without consent is authorized or required by law. We may assume your consent in cases where you volunteer information for an obvious purpose.

We ask for your express consent for some purposes and may not be able to provide certain services if you are unwilling to provide consent to the collection, use or disclosure of certain personal information. Where express consent is needed, we will normally ask clients/patients to provide their consent orally (in person, by telephone), in writing (by signing a consent form, by checking a box on a form, or electronically (by clicking a button).

In cases that do not involve sensitive personal information, we may rely on “opt-out” consent. For example, we may disclose your contact information to other organizations that we believe may be of interest to you, unless you request that we do not disclose your information. You can do this by checking the appropriate box on our application form or by telephoning our local number number.

A client/patient may withdraw consent to the use and disclosure of personal information at any time, unless the personal information is necessary for us to fulfill our legal obligations. We will respect your decision, but we may not be able to provide you with certain products and services if we do not have the necessary personal information.

We may collect, use or disclose client personal information without consent only as authorized by law. For example, we may not request consent when the collection, use or disclosure is reasonable for an investigation or legal proceeding, to collect a debt owed to our organization, in an emergency that threatens life, health or safety, or when the personal information is from a public telephone directory.

How do we safeguard personal information?

We protect client personal information in a manner appropriate for the sensitivity of the information. We make every reasonable effort to prevent any loss, misuse, disclosure or modification of personal information, as well as any unauthorized access to personal information.

We will notify the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, without delay, of a security breach affecting personal information if it creates a real risk of significant harm to individuals.

We retain client personal information only as long as is reasonable to fulfill the purposes for which the information was collected or for legal or business purposes. We render client personal information non-identifying, or destroy records containing personal information once the information is no longer needed.

We use appropriate security measures when destroying client personal information, including shredding paper records and permanently deleting electronic records.

Access to records containing personal information

Clients/patients of Horton Park Dental have a right of access to their own personal information in a record that is in our custody or under our control, subject to some exceptions. For example, organizations are required under the Personal Information Protection Act to refuse to provide access to information that would reveal personal information about another individual. Organizations are authorized under the Act to refuse access to personal information if disclosure would reveal confidential business information. Access may also be refused if the information is privileged or contained in mediation records.

If we refuse a request in whole or in part, we will provide the reasons for the refusal. In some cases where exceptions to access apply, we may withhold that information and provide you with the remainder of the record.

You may make a request for access to your personal information by writing to the designated officer listed below. You must provide sufficient information in your request to allow us to identify the information you are seeking.

You may also request information about our use of your personal information and any disclosure of that information to persons outside our organization.

You may also request a correction of an error or omission in your personal information. We will respond to your request within 45 calendar days, unless an extension is granted. We may charge a reasonable fee to provide information, but not to make a correction. We will advise you of any fees that may apply before beginning to process your request.

Questions and complaints

If you have a question or concern about any collection, use or disclosure of personal information by Horton Park Dental, or about a request for access to your own personal information, please contact:

The Office Manager
Horton Park Dental
Suite B20, 9705 Horton Road SW, 
Calgary, AB T2V 2X4