Our Personal Information Procedures
We have appointed a Privacy Officer, Dr. Rekha Parajuli as our principal advisor and issues manager regarding personal information protection. On your behalf, our staff are trained in personal information procedures, we review our information collection procedures and consent forms on an ongoing basis, and we ensure that any contractors we hire who might have access to your personal information also take steps to protect the privacy of your personal information.
At Creative Smiles, we have a privacy policy in place for patients and employees.
The Personal Information Protection Procedures below tell how we fulfill the commitment to patients in our Privacy Policy.
The Personal Information We Collect And Share
We collect contact information, medical information, and financial information about our patients. The reasons are outlined on the consent form you must sign at the time of collection. The information is used and disclosed only for these purposes.
Medical information is disclosed, with the consent of the patient, to other dentists and dental specialist, or to other health care professionals such as physicians.
The financial information is collected for payment processing purposes. It is not shared with third parties without your consent, unless permitted by law for outstanding bill collection purposes.
Protection Of Your Personal Information In Our Records
Our records containing your personal information are stored electronically on computer hardware that is secure. Passwords and secure servers are used on our computers and we take care to protect our computer screens from public viewing of your personal information.
Our paper records are stored securely in our office with a security system.
Paper records are transferred outside our office by secure, locked methods. Telephone conversations involving sensitive personal information are carried out with sensitivity to protect personal information.
We do not share your personal information outside our office for any marketing, promotional, publicity, educational, or research purposes without your consent.
Access To Your Personal Information
You may make a request to look at your personal information by asking the staff. They may refer you to our Privacy Officer. We will attempt to help you understand the reasons we have the information that is in your record.
You may request that we consider making changes to your personal information if it is not accurate, incomplete, or not up to date. If you believe that there is a mistake in your personal information, you may ask for consideration that it be changed.
If you request a copy of your record, we will provide it in reasonable time. We do charge for the cost of duplication and will let you know in advance what the cost will be.
Storage & Destruction Of Personal Information
We are required by legislation & regulation to keep records containing personal information for specified periods of time. We keep your records for a maximum of ten years from your last service, even if you move from our office.
We destroy personal information in paper records by shredding it. We destroy electronic personal information by deleting it.
When discarding hardware, we make sure the hard drive is destroyed.
Our Privacy Protection Partnership
Privacy is a value & privacy protection is a partnership between our office and you! We have laid out our commitment to you as our valuable patient. Here’s how you can help:
Make sure the personal information you provide us is complete & accurate.
A personal information consent form must be signed by each patient or the patient’s parent/guardian. Please see Pam for your form so that we may keep your signature on file.
If you disclose personal information to another source that may need to share it with us, e.g. your family physician, your employer, or your insurance carrier, please complete the required consent forms presented by them to authorize the transfer of information.
Please respect the privacy of other patients in our office when you are here.
Please respect the privacy of our staff in dealings with our office.
If you have concerns about your personal information that is not being resolved and wish to file a complaint, please do so in writing to our Privacy Officer.
Our Privacy Officer is Dr. Rekha Parajuli, who can be reached in the following ways:
E-mail: dr.rekha@creativesmiles.ca
Telephone: (403)226-3677
Fax: (403)226-3674
Unit 106, 790 Coventry Drive N.E.
Calgary, AB T3K 4K4
For more information about the Alberta Personal Protection Act (PIPA) or the Federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), you may wish to visit the website of the Office of Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner at www.privcom.gc.ca/legislation or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at www.privcom.gc.ca