Email Policy & Cyber Security

 

Whittlesea Medical Clinic considers all health information as sensitive by nature. 

Communication of personal health information, including electronic means, must be secure and adequately protect patient privacy.

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Email is one of the most prevalent and convenient forms of communication. Our clinic often receives requests from patients, other clinicians and third parties to send health information via email.

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To ensure health information is safe and secure, the clinic protects your information using greater security measures and supports the electronic exchange of health information including:

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Encryption - encryption is achieved with specialist software that renders emails unreadable from the start to the point at which the intended recipient opens them. ICT staff should seek specialist advice on the most appropriate forms of encryption software to enable health services and clinicians to exchange sensitive health information.

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Communication via a secure Website portal - web-based communication tools with established methods to ensure the data is protected during entry, transit and secured after it arrives.

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Microsoft Office 365, OneDrive and SharePoint - the Office 365 and/or the Microsoft 365 environment includes protection against common threats. Microsoft Outlook can be configured to send encrypted email. 

 

All emails addressed to the clinic MUST be forwarded to management@whitmedgroup.com.au.​

 

We will endeavor to action/respond to your email within 2 business days and will not send your health information via email without your consent due to the risk that privacy and confidentiality may be compromised.​​​​​ 

 

My health records - Whittlesea Medical Clinic uploads health summaries to My Health Records using the encrypted government system. We are required to hold a NASH (PKI) Certificate to ensure that we comply with government requirements. ​

 

Healthlink - Our clinic uses Healthlink which is a secured messaging system that exchanges patient information between healthcare providers and their software systems e.g. referrals to specialists.​

 

Medicare - We transmit data to Medicare Online and does have in place a Medicare Digital Credential Certificate (PKI) as required by the Department of Health.​

 

Whittlesea Medical Clinic takes the privacy of information for our patients very seriously and meets our obligations under the Privacy Act.