Privacy - Careica Health

Our Commitment to Client Privacy

Careica Health is committed to providing superior service, while protecting client privacy and personal information. We never give, rent, or sell any information that could identify any individual client to any person or organization without the client’s consent. Our privacy principles and policies are based on the Canadian Standards Association’s Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information, and Canada’s federal privacy legislation, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

Clients’ Personal Information

We hold clients’ personal information to facilitate and maintain the highest levels of client care and customer service, and as required by law. This can include the following types of personal information:

Identification: Client name, address, contact numbers, health identification numbers, height, weight, date of birth, and employment information.
Medical information: Referrals, prescriptions, symptoms, diagnoses, test results, opinions, directions or comments from the health professionals involved in client care, medical conditions, medical history and compliance information.
Transaction History and Preferences: The products and services clients’ use or prefer.
Financial Information: If a client applies to open a credit account or requests that we interact with a third party payer or insurance company on their behalf, we may collect banking information, income, credit card numbers and employment information.

When you request information from us, we may use the email address that you provide to send you information about offers on products and services that we believe may be of interest to you. If you have asked us to put you on an email mailing list to provide you with certain information on a regular basis, or if we send you information about our offers on products and services by email, you may ask us to remove you from the list at any time (using the unsubscribe instructions provided with each email, on the site where you signed up, or by contacting us at privacy@careicahealth.com).

We may also collect market-related information, which may include personal information concerning market trends and activities impacting our business. This information may include contract terms, financial information and other information for the purpose of market analysis and strategic planning. We may also collect information related to our media, investor and public relations activities and information related to our interactions with financial and other analysts and advisors.

As a general rule, Careica Health collects personal information directly from you. Where permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements, we may collect information about you without your knowledge or consent.

We may share your personal information with our employees, contractors, consultants and other parties who require such information to assist us with managing our relationship with you, including: third parties that provide services to us or on our behalf; third parties that assist Careica Health in the provision of services to you; and third parties whose services we use to conduct our business.

Why We Collect Clients’ Information

Careica Health collects personal information to enable us to manage, maintain, and develop our business and operations, or to respond to direct inquiries from you, including:

to identify an individual client;
to establish, maintain and manage our relationship with you so that we may provide you with, or receive from you, products and services;
to protect clients’ health by providing them with the most appropriate care and advice;
to interact with other healthcare professionals and provide continuity of care;
to interact with federal or provincial health agencies and departments to fulfill public health reporting, billing requirements and contractual agreements;
to provide additional services or information of interest or assistance to the clients;
to be able to review the products and services that we provide to you so that we may understand your requirements for our products and services and so that we may work to improve our products and services;
to be able to review the products and services that we obtain from you so that we may work with you and so that you may understand our requirements for such products and services;
to be able to comply with your requests (for example, if you prefer to be contacted at a business or residential telephone number and advise us of your preference, we will use this information to contact you at that number);
to enable us to operate and manage our business, including research and development of new and existing products and services;
to verify clients’ credit-worthiness and process payments;
to protect us against error, fraud, theft and damage to our goods and property;
to enable us to comply with applicable laws or regulatory processes;
to protect our rights under agreements; and
any other reasonable purpose to which you consent.

Our Privacy Principles

As per Canada’s federal privacy legislation, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)

Accountability: Our designated Privacy Officer oversees and is accountable for compliance with our privacy policies.
Identifying Purposes: We will identify, either before or at the time of collection, the purposes for which personal information will be collected, used or disclosed.
Consent: We require clients’ informed consent for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information.
Limiting Collection: We only collect information for the purposes we identify to clients.
Limiting Use, Disclosure & Retention: We only use and disclose clients’ personal information with their consent (or as required by law). We retain clients’ information only as long as necessary to fulfill the identified purposes.
Accuracy: We keep clients’ information accurate, complete and up-to-date, and may ask clients to verify their information from time to time.
Safeguards: We protect clients’ personal information with appropriate safeguards.
Openness: We are open about our privacy policies and will make information available to clients in a convenient, understandable form.
Individual Access: Clients have the right to access their personal information we may have on file, be informed about its use and disclosure, and challenge its accuracy or completeness.
Challenging Compliance: Clients are entitled to question our compliance with any of these principles.

Consent

For clients’ consent to be valid, they must understand what information we collect, why we need it, and how we will use it. It is important for clients to ask questions, and to be informed.

Consent may be obtained in a variety of ways. Often, we will ask for clients’ express, written or verbal consent before or at the time we collect, use or disclose their personal information. However, in most cases, by requesting products, services or consultation from us, clients imply their consent for us to collect, use, or disclose their personal information for these purposes.

Of course, giving their consent and providing us with their personal information is always their choice. When they ask us to provide products, services or consultation, we ask clients to provide enough information for us to respond to their request. By doing this, clients are providing consent to collect, use and disclose their personal information for these purposes. Clients are also providing consent to allow us to retain this information for as long as reasonably required for these purposes, unless they withdraw their consent in writing. Please be aware, if a client withdraws or does not provide us with consent, we may not be able to provide them with the products, services or consultation they have requested. There are certain circumstances where we do not need to obtain consent, and may be required to disclose an individual client’s information to third parties without notification. These are very limited and are beyond our control, such as during a life threatening situation or to comply with legal or regulatory requirements.

Cookies

A cookie is a small data file that websites commonly transfer to a visitor’s hard drive when a site is visited. The cookie contains information that can identify a return visitor each time he or she visits. Careica Health websites may use cookies as a way to measure activity and traffic patterns on the website in order to continually improve the visitor’s experience, and to record passwords and preferences.

Most web browsers are set to accept cookies. However, on most web browsers users may change this setting to have their web browser either: (1) notify the user prior to a website placing a cookie on their hard drive so that they can decide whether or not to accept the cookie; or (2) automatically prevent the placing of a cookie on their hard drive. It should be noted that if cookies are not accepted, users may not be able to use certain features or access certain areas of the website.

Revisions to this Privacy Policy

Careica Health, from time to time, may make changes to this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in its legal or regulatory obligations or in the manner in which we deal with client personal information. We will make any revised version of this Privacy Policy available on our websites, and we encourage clients to refer back to it on a regular basis. This Privacy Policy was last reviewed and updated on December 7, 2016.

Inquiries or Concerns

Please contact your local Careica Health office to obtain further information about our policies and procedures or if you have any questions or concerns. If your concerns are not resolved to your satisfaction, please contact our Privacy Officer, who will respond promptly and do their utmost to resolve your concerns.

The contact information for our Privacy Officer is as follows:

Megan Adams, MBA
Privacy Officer
Careica Health
Unit 6 – 55 Henlow Bay
Winnipeg, MB R3Y 1G4

Toll Free: 1 (888) 297-7889, ext. 2137
Phone: (204) 928-1400
Fax: (204) 489-1336
Email: privacy@careicahealth.com