Use and disclosure of health information
When dealing with health information, your practice must decide if the intended use or disclosure is for a primary purpose (for collection) or a secondary purpose (directly related).
Health information is usually collected for providing healthcare services (the primary purpose). Your practice can use or disclose health information for the primary purpose.
If the patient consents, or would reasonably expect the use or disclosure, your practice can choose to use health information for another ‘secondary’ purpose. If a patient’s health information is de-identified, you and your practice need to decide whether it is appropriate to release this data at the request of an external organisation. The Guiding principles for managing requests for the secondary use of de-identified general practice data provides decision-making support and a checklist.
If a patient’s understanding and expectations are not clear, express consent should be obtained.
A practice relying on ‘reasonable expectations’ must consider these from the perspective of a patient with no specific medical knowledge. The patient’s age, cultural background and medical history should also be considered. Whether the intended use or disclosure was notified to the patient is also important.
Please read more on topics in this section via the links below.
Use for primary and secondary purposes
Read more on the ‘Use for primary and secondary purposes’ here
Use or disclosure in the practice setting
Read more on ‘Use or disclosure in the practice setting’ here
Use for business practices
Read more on ‘Use for business practices’ here
Use for training and education purposes
Read more on ‘Use for training and education purposes’ here
Limiting disclosure
Read more on ‘Limiting disclosure’ here
Subpoenas and disclosure required by law
Read more on ‘Subpoenas and disclosure required by law’ here
Information transferred overseas
Read more on ‘Information transferred overseas’ here
Privacy policies
Read more on ‘Privacy policies’ here
Patient access to medical records
Read more on ‘Patient access to medical records’ here
Correction of health information
Read more on ‘Correction of health information’ here
