New privacy guidance to assist private health service providers

Australian Privacy Commissioner Karen Curtis today issued new privacy guidance materials for dentists, medical practitioners and other health service providers and the public.
Released on the Office’s website, the guidance materials consist of five information sheets for healthcare in the Australian private sector, and seven frequently asked questions (FAQs) for the public.
The information sheets address:

• Fees that can be charged for patients to access their records.
• Use and disclosure of health information for managing a health service.
• Sharing health information within a treating team.
• Sharing health information with relatives of an incapacitated patient.
• Denial of access to health information due to a serious threat to life or health.

The FAQs answer questions relate to: patients accessing their medical records, who health service providers can disclose patient information to, and whether health service providers need to obtain the patient's consent.
The information sheets are available @ http://www.privacy.gov.au/publications/index.html#I
The Health FAQs are available @ http://www.privacy.gov.au/faqs/hf/index.html