PRIVACY POLICY
Introduction
Progenics Pty Ltd (ACN 656 498 074) as trustee for The Verma Trust (“Progenics”) is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information (which includes sensitive information) and to handling such information in a responsible manner in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) and relevant State and Territory privacy legislation (referred to as privacy legislation).
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and disclose your personal information, how you may access that information and how you may seek the correction of any information. It also explains how you may make a complaint about a breach of privacy legislation. Our main purpose for collecting, using, holding and sharing your personal information is to facilitate the provision of healthcare services to you by the independent practitioners consulting from our practice. Only persons who need to see your personal information will have access to it. If we need to use your information for any other purposes, we will seek additional consent from you to do so.
From time to time we may make changes to our policy, processes and systems in relation to how we handle your personal information. We will update this Privacy Policy to reflect any changes. Those changes and the most up-to-date version of the policy will be available on our website (www.progenics.com.au); we can also provide a copy via email or hardcopy at our practice.
Collection
We collect information that is necessary and relevant to facilitate the provision of medical and general healthcare advice and treatment to you by the independent practitioners consulting from the practice. We also use it for directly related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, practice audits and accreditation, and business processes (e.g. staff training). This information may include your name, address, date of birth, gender, health information, family history and contact details. As a practice specialising in clinical genetics, detailed personal and family history information is often necessary to provide accurate assessments. This information is stored on our secure cloud-based practice software.
We may also need to collect from you your Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes, healthcare identifiers, payment and / or financial information, concession card details; and health fund details.
We will collect this information from you and, with your written consent, other sources such as treating specialists, radiologists, pathologists, hospitals and other health care providers.
We collect information in various ways, such as:
- Telephone;
- Facsimile;
- Email communication;
- Referral from GP or Specialist;
- Face-to-face/telehealth consultation;
- Your My Health Record, e.g. via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary or through a Discharge Summary provided by a hospital or other healthcare service providers;
- When you contact us via our website, make an online appointment or communicate with us using social media;
- Other indirect sources if it is not practical or reasonable to collect it from you directly. This may include information from your guardian or responsible person, other involved healthcare providers, such as specialists, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health services and pathology and diagnostic imaging services; and / or your health fund, Medicare, or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (as necessary).
This information may be collected by medical and non-medical staff.
In emergency situations we may also need to collect information from your relatives, other health services provider or friends.
We may be required by law to retain medical records for certain periods of time depending on your age at the time we provide services.
Dealing with us Anonymously
You have the right to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym unless it is impracticable for us to do so or unless we are required or authorised by law to only deal with identified individuals.
Please be aware that Medicare rebates are only available where a Medicare card (and / or associated information) is available. As such your practitioner may require you to pay for your consults in full without this rebate if you choose to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym.
Use and Disclosure
We will treat your personal information as strictly private and confidential. We will only use or disclose it for:
- purposes directly related to your care and treatment, or in ways that you would reasonably expect that we may use it for your ongoing care and treatment (for example, the disclosure of genetic test results to your referring doctor, for Medicare billing purposes, for medical indemnity insurance obligations);
- purposes directly related to the care and treatment of your family members, only if you provide us written consent to do so;
- when it is required or authorised by law (e.g. court subpoenas, or where we are obliged to make a mandatory notification to a regulatory body);
- when it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or public health or safety, or where it is otherwise impractical to obtain your consent;
- to assist in locating a missing person;
- to establish, exercise or defend a claim;
- for the purposes of confidential dispute resolution processes;
- during the course of providing nursing support services; or
- for the purposes of uploading that information to your My Health Record, such as through the shared health summary or event summary.
During your care you may be referred to alternative medical services and providers (pathology, radiology, other specialists) when determining your diagnosis or treatment. All referrals to, and liaison with, other health practitioners regarding your healthcare will be conducted whilst maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of your personal information.
If another health practitioner or healthcare provider wishes to access records we hold on behalf of you, and we haven't already corresponded with them as part of your ongoing care, we will only share these with after receiving written consent signed by you.
Your independent practitioner is required to write back to your referring provider with their assessment and recommendations. Beyond this, we will only share your records with your other health practitioners/healthcare providers and your family members after receiving consent from you to share this information (see below). Additionally, you may at any time wish to disclose that no third parties as stated above are to access or be informed about your personal information or circumstances.
We may disclose information about you to outside contractors to carry out activities on our behalf, such as an IT service providers or accreditation agencies. We impose security and confidentiality requirements on how they handle your personal information, including compliance with this policy and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). Outside contractors are required not to use information about you for any purpose except for those activities we have asked them to perform.
There are circumstances where we may be permitted or required by law to disclose your personal information to additional third parties. For example, to Medicare, Police, insurers, solicitors, government regulatory bodies, tribunals, courts of law, hospitals, or debt collection agents.
We will not share your personal information with anyone outside Australia (unless under exceptional circumstances that are permitted by law) without your consent. If you choose to proceed with genetic testing through an overseas laboratory, we will direct a local pathology service to transfer your personal information and tissue samples/genetic material overseas after you have provided us written consent for genetic/genomic testing. Only people who need to access your information will be able to do so. Other than in the course of facilitating the provision of medical services or as otherwise described in this policy, our practice will not share personal information with any third party without your consent.
Our practice will not use your personal information for marketing any of our goods or services directly to you without your express consent. If you do consent, you may opt out of direct marketing at any time by notifying our practice in writing.
Data Quality and Security
We will take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete, up to date and relevant. We will also protect your privacy by verifying your identify when communicating with you. For these purposes, our staff may ask you to confirm that your personal details when you attend a consultation or communicate with us via telephone, email or other methods. We request that you let us know if any of the information we hold about you is incorrect or out of date.
Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms.
Our practice stores information as electronic records (including via cloud-based services), visual records (including photos) and archived paper records.
Our practice stores all personal information securely via the use of passwords, encrypted back-ups, confidentiality agreements for staff and secure cabinets.
All records will be retained until the later of seven (7) years from your last contact with the practice, or until you reach the age of twenty-five (25).
We take steps to destroy or de-identify information that we no longer require.
Our server security policy is designed to protect the servers from unauthorised access, data breaches, and other security threats. Our practice uses the following security measures to ensure the personal information which it holds is secured:
- Antivirus software is installed on all servers and updated regularly.
- Firewalls are configured to block unauthorised traffic.
- Servers are placed on their own subnet.
- Access to servers is restricted to authorised users.
- Physical access to the servers are limited, with servers located in a locked room and security cameras installed around the building.
- Servers are patched regularly to fix security vulnerabilities.
- Backups are created regularly every hour onsite with daily offsite backups.
Corrections
If you believe that the information we have about you is not accurate, complete or up-to-date, we ask that you contact us in writing, see contact details below.
Our practice will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information where the information is not accurate or up to date. From time to time, we will ask you to verify that your personal information held by our practice is correct and current. You may also request that we correct or update your information, and you should make such requests in writing to reception@progenics.com.au. There is no fee charged for making corrections to your personal information.
Access
You are entitled to request access to your medical records. You can lodge this request either via email (reception@progenics.com.au) or telephone. Our practice will acknowledge your request within three (3) business days. We can post the requested information to your postal address, or we can email the information to you if you request it. If a patient requests access to his/her personal information we will not charge a fee. If a third party, such as a solicitor, requests patient information in writing there may be a fee for the reasonable administration costs of retrieving and providing them with copies of the requested medical records.
We may deny access to your medical records in certain circumstances permitted by law, for example if disclosure may cause a serious threat to your health or safety. We will always tell you why access is denied and the options you have to respond to our decision.
Complaints
If you have a complaint about the privacy of your personal information, we request that you contact us in writing (see contact details below).
Complaints should be addressed to:
Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of websites that are linked from our website.
Privacy and Our Website
If you “like” or comment on our social media pages, we will have your social media name.
Our website uses cookies. A “cookie” is a small file stored on your computer's browser, which assists in managing customised settings of the website and delivering content. We collect certain information such as your device type, browser type, IP address and pages you have accessed on our website and on third-party websites. You are not identifiable from such information. You can use the settings in your browser to control how your browser deals with cookies. However, in doing so, you may be unable to access certain pages or content on our website.
We will respond with acknowledgement of your complaint within three (3) business days and provide a response within thirty (30) business days. You may also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). Generally, the OAIC will require you to give them time to respond before they will investigate. For further information, visit www.oaic.gov.au or call the OAIC on 1300 363 992.
Privacy Statement Review
This privacy policy will be reviewed annually to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur.
Last reviewed: 8 May 2026
