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Privacy Policy.

 

The privacy of your personal information is important to us. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the goods and services we provide. This document describes our privacy policies.

 

WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?

 

Personal information includes information that relates to:

• an individual’s personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, income, home address or telephone number, ethnic background, family status);

• health (e.g., health history, health conditions, health services received by them);

• activities and views (e.g., opinions expressed by an individual, an opinion or evaluation of an individual).

 

Personal information is different from business information (e.g., an individual’s business address and telephone number). This is not protected by privacy legislation.

 

WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION: Primary Purposes

Like all medical professionals, we collect, use and disclose personal information in order to serve my clients.  The primary purpose for collecting personal information is to provide treatment. For example, we collect information about a client’s health history, including their family history, physical condition, function and social situation in order to help me assess what their health needs are, to advise them of their options and then to provide the health care they choose to have.

 

WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION: Related and Secondary Purposes

Like most organizations, we also collect, use and disclose information for purposes secondary to my primary purposes. The most common examples of my related and secondary purposes are as follows:

To invoice clients for goods or services that was not paid for at the time, to process credit card payments or to collect unpaid accounts.

 

We review clients and other files for the purpose of ensuring that I provide high quality services, including assessing the performance of my staff. In addition, external consultants (e.g., auditors, practice consultants) may on our behalf do audits and continuing quality improvement reviews of my Clinic, including reviewing client files and interviewing my staff.

 

Registered Massage Therapists are regulated by the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation (IDFPR). The IDFPR may inspect our records and interview our staff (if any) as a part of their regulatory activities in the public interest. Also, we peronally believe that information suggesting serious illegal behavior should be reported to the authorities. External regulators have their own strict privacy obligations. Sometimes these reports include personal information about clients, or other individuals, to support the concern have the authority to review our files and interview us or our staff (if any) as a part of their mandates. In these circumstances, we may consult with professionals (e.g., Lawyers, Accountants) who will investigate the matter and report back to us.

The cost of goods/services provided by the organization to clients is often paid for by third parties (e.g., motor vehicle accident insurance, private insurance). These third party payers often have the client’s consent or legislative authority to direct me to collect and disclose to them certain information in order to demonstrate client entitlement to this funding.

 

Clients or other individuals we deal with may have questions about our goods or services after they have been received. We retain client information for 7 years after the last contact to enable us to respond to those questions and provide these services (Please note, there is no mandatory time frame for private massage therapists in Illinois to retain records, and this is simply a statement of intent for your benefit).

 

PROTECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION

We understand the importance of protecting personal information. For that reason, we have taken the following steps:

• Paper information is either under supervision or secured in restricted area.

• Electronic hardware is either under supervision or secure in a restricted area at all times. Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies.

• Electronic information is transmitted either through a direct line or has identifiers removed or is encrypted.

• External consultants and agencies with access to personal information must enter into privacy agreements with me.

 

RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We need to retain personal information for some time to ensure that we can answer any question the client may have about the services provided and for my own accountability to external regulatory bodies.

We keep my clients files for 7 years, in keeping with standard Illinois medical practices.

We destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding. We destroy electronic information by deleting it and, when the hardware is discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically destroyed.

 

YOU CAN LOOK AT YOUR INFORMATION

With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. We can help you identify what records I might have about you. I will also try to help you understand any information you do not understand (e.g., short forms, technical language, etc.). We will need to confirm your identity, if we do not know you, before providing you with this access. We reserve the right to charge a nominal fee for such requests.

If there is a problem, we may ask you to put your request in writing. If we cannot give you access, we will tell you within 30 days if at all possible and tell you the reason, as best I can, as to why I cannot give you access.

If you believe there is a mistake in the information, you have the right to ask for it to be corrected. This applies to factual information and not to any professional opinions we may have formed. We may ask you to provide documentation that our files are wrong. Where we agree that a mistake was made, we will make the correction and notify anyone to whom we have sent this information. If we do not agree that we have made a mistake, we will still agree to include in our file a brief statement from you on the point and we will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.

 

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?

If you have a concern about the professionalism or competence of our services, we would ask you to discuss those concerns with us directly. However, if we cannot satisfy your concerns, you are entitled to complain to our regulatory body:

 

Department of Financial and Professional Regulation
Division of Professional Regulation 
Complaint Intake Unit 
100 West Randolph Street, Suite 9-300 
Chicago, IL 60601 
Phone: 312/814-6910