Beauty-Full Spa Offers a Full Range of Traditional Pampering With Clients in Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Scarborough.

Massage Therapy – Rmt, Privacy Policy for Beauty-Full Spa & Weight Loss Treatment Centre Inc.

The privacy of your personal information is of vital importance to our practice.  We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only as is necessary in order to provide that best possible treatment and service to you.  Please read the following privacy policy carefully; it is intended to reassure you that Beauty-Full Spa & Weight Loss Treatment Centre Inc. takes the will protect your personal information and explain the procedures we will follow in disposing of them.

What is personal information?

Personal information is information about an identifiable individual, including that which relates to their personal characteristics, gender, age, home address or phone number, their health history, conditions and any services received by them.

Who we are:

As Registered Massage Therapists with the Collage of Massage Therapists of Ontario, we are obligated to uphold our standards of practice and all legislation regarding privacy in Ontario.  The health history files and all personal information that you willingly give to us will be used for the sole purpose of designing and implementing a treatment plan and for contact with you regarding appointments.  The staff at Beauty-Full Spa & Weight Loss Treatment Centre Inc. will have access to the contact information and may inadvertently see some health information in the process of filing the health history files.  However, we will make all assurances that they follow appropriate privacy principles.

Collection of Personal Information:  Primary Purpose

As Health Care Professionals, we collect personal and health information in order to provide the best treatment according to the needs of you, the client.  We will collect the client’s health history, including familial history, current symptoms and information regarding occupational hazards in order to understand the needs of the client thoroughly and therefore implement the treatment specifically designed for their needs.  Secondary to that, we will be able to use past health history and ongoing notes in order to identify any changes to the health status or needs on an ongoing basis.  In an extreme circumstance such as in a health emergency, we may use the information without express consent from the client (e.g., the client is unconscious) or in the circumstances of leaving a message.

We may use personal information such as email addresses to send information about upcoming events, classes etc. that may be taking place at Beauty-Full Spa & Weight Loss Treatment Centre Inc.  We will attempt to obtain consent before using this information; however, we will immediately remove any personal information from our text or mailing lists upon request.

Related and Secondary Purposes:

To invoice clients for goods and services not paid for and the processing of credit card payments or to collect unpaid accounts.

As Registered Massage Therapists, we are regulated by the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario, and thus under the Quality Assurance Program, we are required to allow them access to review our files.  All personal and health information seen during this process is considered confidential.  Regulatory bodies of the government may also access information, such as Revenue Canada, Privacy Commissioner, etc.  If need be, we will consult with professionals who will aid in the above processes, (lawyers, accountants etc.)  If Beauty-Full Spa & Weight Loss Treatment Centre Inc. were to be sold, the purchaser would want to conduct a “due diligence” review of the clinic’s financial records.  The purchaser would not be able to remove or record files.  Any purchaser would be required to sign a written agreement that any and or all information that is accessed would remain confidential.

You can choose not to be part of some of these related or secondary purposes (e.g., by declining to receive notices of special events, etc.).  However, the Regulations require that personal and health information be accessed by the Regulatory bodies and, therefore, as a client of Beauty-Full Spa & Weight Loss Treatment Centre Inc., your file may be accessed for this purpose.

Protection of your Personal Information

• Your health information/personal information will either be in a locked filing case or in a restricted area.
• Electronic hardware is either under supervision, and passwords are used on computers.
• Our staff will only collect, use and disclose personal information as necessary to fulfill their duties.
• External consultants that may have access to personal information must enter into a privacy agreement with Beauty-Full Spa & Weight Loss Treatment Centre Inc., to ensure that all information is kept strictly confidential.

Disclosure of Personal Information

In the case that a lawyer or insurance company requires copies of a client’s file, we at Beauty-Full Spa & Weight Loss Treatment Centre Inc. will only grant such a request once a formal request is received with a signed copy of a release of information form from the client.  The release of information form must state explicitly who the information may be released to, as outlined in the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA).

The following exceptions may apply:

• When the information pertains to grave hazards, and it is in the best interests of the public to disclose the information to the appropriate authorities.
• The health and safety of the client is at risk;
• Disclosures to public health authorities as required by law; or,
• When the provision of health care requires disclosure with a ‘Circle of Care’
• To comply with a subpoena, warrant or court order.
• At the request of a government institution for national security, law enforcement or administration.

Retention and Disposing of Files

We are required to retain personal information for 10-years after the date of the client’s last visit. The policy further states that in cases where the client is under the age of majority, 18-years, at the time of the massage treatment, Massage Therapists must store those records for 10-years past the date of the client’s 18^th Birthday.  This information is required to be kept so that any questions that may arise in reference to the services provided and for our own accountability to the Collage of Massage Therapists of Ontario. Said information would be destroyed one day past the 10^th Anniversary Date of the last Treatment or if the client was under the age of majority, the 10^th Anniversary Date after the client’s 18^th Birthday.

The following are the rules governing the destruction of personal information by Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Order HO-001 under the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA), online reference https://www.ipc.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/Resources/fact-10-e.pdf:

• For paper records, destruction means cross-cut shredding, not simply continuous (single strip) shredding, which can be reconstructed. Since it is technically possible to reconstruct even cross-cut shredded documents, consider going further for highly sensitive records and ensuring that pulverization or incineration of the records takes place. Consider whether on-site or off-site destruction is more suitable for your organization.
• For electronic and wireless media such as floppy disks, CDs, USB keys, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and hard drives, destruction means either physically damaging5 the item (rendering it unusable) and discarding it, or, if re-use within the organization is preferred, it means employing wiping utilities provided by various software companies.6 Wiping may not, however, irreversibly erase every bit of data on a drive.
• Furthermore, a certificate of destruction will be issued upon completion, including the date, time, location, and method of destruction and the signature of the operator (while a certificate itself cannot prove that destruction has actually occurred, its existence, along with the written service contract, documented reference-checking, accreditation, etc., will demonstrate that Beauty-Full Spa & Weight Loss Treatment Centre Inc. have taken reasonable steps to ensure secure destruction has taken place.

The Role of the Health Information Custodian (HIC)

According to Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA), a Health Information Custodian (HIC) is the individual charged with the collection, protection, control and custody of the client’s personal information (PHI).  To be a HIC, one must be a regulated health care practitioner like an RMT, not a spa owner who operates a facility that is not recognized as a regulated health corporation and thus is not eligible to fulfill the responsibilities of the HIC.

Accessibility of Your Information

The College of Massage Therapist of Ontario for the Maintenance of Client Records requires Massage Therapists to adhere to the following three principles when maintaining records or client files:

1. All information relating to the Massage Therapy services within the scope of practice of the Massage Therapist provided to a client is collected and maintained confidentially.
2. That all personal information collected from a client belongs to the client and can only be released/disclosed with the client’s consent as required by law; and,
3. That the client has the right to access their information from a health record.

In the case that we are not familiar with you, we will require some identification to verify your identity.  We will try and help you understand the short forms and technical terms used in your file.  If you wish to change any information in regards to the personal information/health information, you have the right to do so.  This applies to factual information, not to any professional opinions.  From time to time, we may ask that you provide documentation to ensure our files are correct, and if need be, we will send a revised form and explanation to anyone that the form may have been forwarded to (with your request).  If a mistake was not made in the file, we will keep a copy of your request and statement in the health history and again forward it to anyone that may have received the previous information.

Xiao Qing Sun, RMT, HIC
Beauty-Full Spa & Weight Loss Treatment Centre Inc.
931 Liverpool Rd., Pickering ON L1W 1S7
Tel 905-420-0020 Text 647-891-2636
Email info@beautyfullspa.ca
Website www.beautyfullspa.ca

We invite you to please address any questions or concerns to the above; we will make every effort to answer your concerns.

Thank you and have a pleasant joy-filled day!

Paul J Avis
Manager