Privacy Policy
Muddy Moose Occupational Therapy (“Muddy Moose” or “we” or “us” or “our”) recognizes the importance of maintaining you and your child's protected health information. We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your child’s protected health information, as governed by British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). PIPA sets out rules for how we collect, use and disclose personal information. This notice describes how health information about your child may be used by Muddy Moose and how you can get access to your child's individually identifiable health information. We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your child’s information. We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it. We will not use or share your child’s information other than as described herein unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing that you change your mind. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services that we provide. See our full Privacy Policy below.
If you have any questions about this policy or about your child’s rights, please contact our Privacy Officer Janie Pearson at janie@muddymoose.co . We reserve the right to amend or change this policy based on our needs and changes in provincial and/or federal law.
USE AND DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION
Muddy Moose Occupational Therapy collects personal information that you provide to us. The term “personal information” refers to data you voluntarily provide in connection with use of the website that identifies your child. These may be collected by filling out forms on the website, communicating with us via contact forms, responding to surveys, providing comments or other feedback, social media, email, SMS and messaging interactions and providing information when ordering a service via the website. Personal information may include name, e-mail address, phone number, relationship, physical address and/or certain other personal information. As a general rule, we do not sell, rent, lease or otherwise transfer any information collected whether automatically or through your voluntary action. Muddy Moose does not market its services to children; therefore, our company does not knowingly solicit children under the age of 13 to visit our website. Protected health information is used by us in the following ways:
1. Treatment. With your consent, Muddy Moose may use or disclose your child’s protected health information to provide, coordinate, or manage your child’s care or any related treatment or service including sharing information with others outside Muddy Moose that we are consulting with or referring to you.
2. Payment. With your written consent, information may be used to obtain payment for treatment and services provided. This may include contacting your child’s funding source regarding approval of planned treatment services or for billing purposes.
3. Healthcare Operations. Muddy Moose may use information about your child to coordinate our business activities and operate our business. This may include setting up your child’s appointments, reviewing your child’s care, or training staff.
4. Treatment Options. Muddy Moose may use or disclose your child’s protected health information to inform you of potential treatment options or alternatives.
Your child's OT record will be securely stored by Muddy Moose for 16 years from the day on which your child turns 19 years old, as per COTBC standards. After this time period, the file will be disposed of.
INFORMATION WE COLLECT THROUGH AUTOMATIC DATA COLLECTION TECHNOLOGY
As you navigate through our website, we may use automatic data collection technologies including Google Analytics to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns. This will generally include information about your location, your traffic pattern through our website, and any communications between your computer and our website. Among other things, we will collect data about the type of computer you use, your Internet connection, your IP address, your operating system, and your browser type.
The information we collect automatically is used for statistical data and will not include personal information. We use this data to improve our website and our service offerings. To the extent that you voluntarily provide personal information to us, our systems will associate the automatically collected information with your personal information.
INFORMATION DISCLOSED WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT
Under British Columbia and federal law, information about your child may be disclosed without your consent in the following circumstances:
1. Emergencies. Muddy Moose may share health information about your child for certain situations such as: a) preventing disease; b) reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence; and c) preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety.
2. As Required by Law. Muddy Moose may share information about your child, in good faith, if we believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights or when compelled by a court or other governmental entity to do so.
PROCESSING OF YOUR INFORMATION
Muddy Moose is located within Canada; however, we work with third party service providers in different countries (for example, cloud providers, web hosting, helpdesk software providers, payment processors). Therefore, your information may be transferred outside of Canada and stored, or processed in other countries, as part of our business operations. By using our website, you consent to any transfer of your information to these locations.
Muddy Moose utilizes "cookies" and server logs to collect information about how our website is used. Cookies are small files that a website or its service provider transfers to your computer's hard drive through your web browser (if you allow) that enables the website's or service provider's systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. Information gathered through cookies and server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our site, and the websites visited just before and just after our own, as well as your IP address. We may also use trusted third-party services that track this information on our behalf. You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. If you turn cookies off, it may affect your user experience on our website.
Muddy Moose reserves the right to use technological equivalents of cookies, including social media pixels. These pixels allow social media sites to track visitors to outside websites to tailor advertising messages users see while visiting that social media website. We reserve the right to use these pixels in compliance with the policies of the various social media sites.
THIRD PARTY CONTRACTS
We may contract with third parties to supply products and services to you on our behalf. These may include payment processing, registration for services, delivery of goods, search engine facilities, advertising and marketing. In some cases, the third parties may require access to some or all of your data. Where any of your data is required for such a purpose, we take all reasonable steps to ensure your data is handled safely, securely, and in accordance with your rights, our obligations, and the obligations of the third party under the law. We are not responsible for any third-party for which you independently decide to sign-up for or use through a link or recommendation from our website. These companies have their own privacy policies established, which can be accessed via the company websites.
HOW WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION AND TRANSMISSIONS
Muddy Moose employs commercially reasonable methods to ensure the security of the information you provide to us and the information we collect automatically. This includes using standard security protocols and working only with reputable third-party vendors.
Email is not recognized as a secure medium of communication. For this reason, we request that you do not send private information to us by email. However, doing so is allowed, but at your own risk. Some of the information you may enter on our website may be transmitted securely via a secure medium known as Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL. Credit Card information and other sensitive information is never transmitted via email.
We may use software programs to create summary statistics, which are used for such purposes as assessing the number of visitors to the different sections of our site, what information is of most and least interest, determining technical design specifications, and identifying system performance or problem areas.
For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, Muddy Moose may use software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.
YOUR RIGHTS
1. Confidential Communications. You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your child's health and related issues in a particular manner or at a certain location. We will accommodate all reasonable requests.
2. Inspection and Copies. You have the right to get a copy of your child’s paper or electronic medical record. You must submit your request in writing. We may charge a reasonable fee for copying.
3. Amendments. You have the right to correct your paper or electronic medical record if you believe it is incorrect or incomplete. To request an amendment, your request must be made in writing. You must provide us with a reason to support your request. We may deny your request but we will tell you why in writing within 60 days.
4. Restrictions. You may request a restriction in our use or disclosure of certain health information for treatment, payment or health care operations. We are not required to agree to your request and may say no if it would affect your child’s care. In order to request a restriction in our use or disclosure of your child’s health information, you must make your request in writing.
5. Get a Copy of Privacy Notice. You are entitled to receive a paper copy of this notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this notice at any time.
6. File a Complaint. If you have concerns related to your child’s privacy and security of their personal information, you may file a complaint with Muddy Moose, the College of Occupational Therapists of British Columbia (COT-BC) at 1-866-386-6822 or with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) for British Columbia at info@oipc.bc.ca . To file a complaint us, contact our Privacy Officer Janie Pearson at janie@muddymoose.co . You and/or your child will not be penalized for filing a complaint.
7. Consent to Release of Records. You have the right to consent to the release of your child’s records to others, for any purpose you choose. You may revoke this consent at any time but only to the extent that no action has been taken in reliance on your prior authorization.
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. If we decide to make changes our policy, we will post these changes to this privacy statement on our website and other places we deem appropriate so you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We reserve the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review it frequently. Your continued use of the site after such changes have been posted indicates your consent and acceptance of such changes.
If your child's personal information changes or if you wish us to delete it from our records, you may correct, update or delete your information by emailing us. If you have any questions regarding this privacy notice, please contact our Privacy Officer Janie Pearson, at janie@muddymoose.co.
Last Edited on 2019-07-01