About Consent for sharing Health Information/Records
About your/your child’s health record
Your doctor keeps a record of their care of your child. The most important part of the record is the correspondence to and from the doctor, various reports and test results. The doctor's clinical notes, administrative notes, and records made in support of their care of your child are not shared with patients or others. The law provides that in most cases, the patient is able to ask about their care or request copies of correspondence, reports and results to be provided to them or sent to another doctor, person or other entity. In some limited circumstances, and for certain serious reasons concerning safety or the best interests of the patient, a provider may judge that a record or part of a record should not be provided.
Patient records are confidential
My doctor is moving to a new practice location
If your doctor moves to a different practice, their administrative arrangements, privacy policy, and records management may change. Your doctor should advise you of their new privacy policy. The law requires that we cannot provide the patient record to the doctor's new practice administrative settings without your consent.
I need to share health information between your Prosper Paediatrics clinician and another party. What should I do?
Privacy laws and medical ethics mean that your personal health information cannot be shared without your permission. To protect your privacy, your provider needs to have a clear understanding of your consent and to have written evidence of it. This is done when you make a written request by filling out our Consent Form. We may need to verify written consent verbally in the rooms or by phone or video call with the patient or their parent.
Who signs this consent form- the parent or the child?
A patient who is 16 years of age or older must give consent for the sharing of any part of their health record with any other person or entity, including their parents.
The consent of a parent/ guardian is necessary when the patient is less than 16 years old.
When consent is not needed.
If you already have information or documents concerning your or your child’s health, you can decide whether to share that health information with others without a formal consent process. You may have been provided with copies of letters, reports, or results, or you may request them. We can email a PDF of your/ your child's health record directly to you, and you can then decide whether to share that. This is a lower cost and less complicated way of transferring health information.
If consent is needed
Please email us your written request for transfer of a copy of the information to a third party by completing our form correctly. Prosper Paediatrics will send you a Consent Form. Complete and return it via email. S
We must be confident that we have your clear and precise consent. The identity, address and contact details of the nominated third-party recipient must be clearly identified. You must detail what parts of the record you wish us to copy and send. You must clearly identify the person making the request and providing consent, and this person must have and be identified as having the legal capacity to give that consent.
Staff may need to call you or ask you to attend the rooms to discuss the request and verify the consent.
Will there be any costs for transferring a record?
Prosper Paediatrics will aim to minimise the costs of sharing information or records, but fees may be invoiced to cover the cost of this service. Some transfers involve extra complications and costs. Requiring us to transfer records directly to another person, organisation, or practice means some additional costs in managing the consent process, the checking and compiling of a copy of the information and the verifying of the third party and their contact details.
Other increased costs may be due to
Consent Process complications and delays: Additional transfer costs may be created if Prosper Paediatrics is required to undertake any communication in addition to the written communication and advice provided on their forms, email or website, including extra explanation or reminders about the Consent requirements or the need for corrections to a completed for a submitted Consent Form. Please read our instructions and explanations and ensure that the form is completed correctly.
Urgent transfer requests: There will be additional charges if a transfer is required urgently. If we have not been given time to assess, advise or discuss unusual or additional costs or mitigation of costs, you agree to waive any expectation or right to consultation or agreement about the additional costs or mitigation of those costs and to pay any additional fees associated with that urgently required transfer prior to our completion of the transfer or at least by close of business on the day any associated invoice is issued.
Transfers may be uncomplicated, complicated or unusually complicated:
Uncomplicated transfers: An uncomplicated transfer is where the record can be compiled as one PDF document without the need for any redaction or complication and can be transferred as one attachment with one email.
Complicated Transfers: A complicated transfer is one in which the record cannot be compiled as one PDF document without extra care or complication or must be provided in several parts and transferred in several emails.
Unusually Complicated Transfers: An unusually complicated transfer is one where there are unusual extra complications, costs and constraints affecting the transfer and
will include situations such as very large file sizes; where the file needs to be printed and transferred by post or courier; where redaction is required by either or both parents, the patient, Prosper Paediatrics, your Provider or in accordance with legal advice to any of these parties; where redaction is required for safety, privacy reasons or Court Orders; where a file redaction may need to be conducted by one or more lawyers for any of the responsible or affected parties; any other situation necessarily requiring additional costs for the transfer. If unusual complications become evident, we will contact you to discuss the additional costs and any options for mitigating those costs before proceeding with or continuing the transfer.
The unusual complexity may delay the transfer, and Prosper Paediatrics reserves the right to delay the transfer until its concerns, including legal, safety, and privacy, can be resolved satisfactorily.