These are a few of our important policies.
Patients/clients with serious medical / health-related emergencies should go to their nearest Emergency Department. Our clinic does not provide medical services and is not equipped to handle medical / health-related emergencies.
For the comfort and safety of our patients/clients and staff, we ask that you please refrain from using strong scents while visiting the clinic. We appreciate your understanding.
On your first visit to our clinic for any new service, it is required that you fill out an intake form. Please arrive at least 10 minutes before your scheduled appointment time, in order to fill out the necessary forms. This way, your appointment can begin on time.
In order to best serve all patients/clients, our clinic charges a cancellation fee (minimum $25 charge) for any appointment that is missed or cancelled without adequate notice. In order for you to avoid this charge, we require at least 24 hours of advance notice from you if you need to cancel your appointment. Cancellation of any appointments must be done during regular business hours with one of our staff members. We are unable to accept such requests via voice-mail or e-mail. If you book an appointment within the 24-hour time frame, the policy is in effect right away.
We always try to accommodate our patients/clients who may arrive late due to traffic or other unforeseen circumstances. However, late comers may be required to re-schedule for a later time or another day and appropriate charges for the late or missed appointment may apply. If this is your first visit to our clinic, please arrive at least 10 minutes before your scheduled appointment time, in order to fill out the necessary forms.
Please note all fees incurred must be paid before seeing a practitioner and cannot be waived by any of the staff members, including the front desk. Thank you for your understanding.
The Length of each health service varies depending on the service scheduled for you. Details can be found on the individual web page of the service or you may ask your practitioner for any further details.
All appointments will end at the scheduled time so that we may serve the next patient/client on time.
We regret to inform you that our clinic does not offer any refunds for any goods/products purchased at Triloka Psychology & Integrative Health Centre.
Our services are not covered by OHIP. Most of our services are covered by your employer’s extended health insurance plans or other private, third party insurance plans. We typically do not provide direct billing; however, appropriate information and receipts will be provided so that you may submit your claim for reimbursement from your insurance provider.
Other health-related services that are uninsured services include sick notes, insurance forms, government forms, etc. Forms take time to fill and thus reduce the practitioners’ ability to provide care to patients/clients. We will always inform patients/clients in advance of such charges and offer several convenient forms of payment. All charges for uninsured services must be settled at point of service.
We are sensitive to the privacy of personal information and this is reflected in how we communicate with our patients/clients, others involved in their care and all third parties. We protect personal information regardless of the format: (1) We do not allow audible playback of telephone voice messages in the clinic; (2) Our fax machine is located in a secure and supervised area with restricted public access; (3) Our e-mail platform is secured by firewall and virus scanning software that is in place to mitigate against unauthorized modification, loss, access or disclosure of information; and, (4) Post/Courier mail is addressed and delivered to the authorized recipient.
We are unable to offer any health-related advice or management over the telephone, or via fax or e-mail. Patients are advised to take advantage of our scheduling system for the next available appointment. Communication with administrative staff about your health is also against provincial privacy regulations and you will be instructed to communicate all health-related concerns with your practitioner at your appointment. Our staff will be happy to help with all other concerns.
Our clinic does not permit the audio and/or video recording of any services inside our facilities. Any exceptions to this policy will require express consent from all parties involved in the provision and receipt of those services. Failure to comply with this policy or failure to obtain express consent from all parties will result in remedies that include immediate discharge from our clinic. Thank you for your understanding.
When information is no longer required, it will be destroyed or retained according to set professional regulations that govern the storage and destruction of personal information. We retain patient/client records as required by law and professional regulations. Typically this means that we will retain records for at least 10 years from the date of last entry or, in the case of minors, 10 years from the time the patient/client would have reached the age of majority (age 18 or 19 in all jurisdictions).
The Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA, 2004) is Ontario Government legislation that sets out rules for the collection and utilization of patient information.
Collection, Use and Disclosure of Your Personal Health Information
Our clinic collects, uses and discloses your personal health information (PHI) only for the purposes of providing care and treatment or the administration of that care, or for other purposes to which you expressly consent. We collect PHI about you, either from you directly or from the person acting on your behalf (i.e., a parent). Occasionally, when we have received your consent, we receive and collect information about you from other sources (i.e., third parties).
The PHI that we collect includes identification and contact information, such as, your name, date of birth, address, phone number and/or fax and/or e-mail address, emergency contact information, records of your visits, and the care that you received. We collect billing information, such as, third party insurance information for the purpose of direct billing. We collect health information, such as, health history, presenting symptoms, relevant health history of family members, reports and notes from other health providers.
We use and disclose your personal health information to:
Treat and care for you.
Conduct risk management activities.
Conduct quality improvement activities, such as completing surveys.
Compile statistics to improve our programs and services.
Comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
Fulfil other purposes permitted or required by law.
With regard to the above uses and disclosures of your PHI, you have the right to request access, correct, or request a copy of your personal health records in a timely manner. Requests can be submitted verbally, in writing, to your practitioner, or to any administrative staff. We acknowledge receipt of requests and respond within a timely manner.
Access will be given only when approved by your practitioner. Only in extremely limited circumstances would you be denied access if providing this access would create a risk to you or to another person. For example, this may occur when the information could reasonably be expected to seriously endanger the mental or physical health or safety of the individual making the request or another person. Another example in which this may occur would be if the disclosure would reveal personal information about another person who has not consented to the disclosure. In this case, we would do our best to separate out this information and disclose only what is appropriate.
We make every effort to ensure that all patient information is recorded accurately. If there is an inaccuracy in your record, you can request a change, and your practitioner will both authorize and document this request in the record.
Original records will be viewable with staff present to maintain the integrity of the records, and a reasonable fee may be charged for this access. Copies of records will be provided at a reasonable cost as per professional association guidelines.
You have the option to withdraw consent to have your information shared with other health providers at any time. You also have the option to withdraw consent to have your information shared with third parties. If you choose to withdraw your consent, your practitioner will discuss any significant consequences that might result with respect to your care and treatment (e.g., possible negative impact on the care provided).
We value patient privacy and act to ensure that it is protected.
We take steps to ensure that everyone in this clinic who assists with or provides services for us protects your privacy and only uses your PHI according to the policies for appropriate use and disclosure of personal information. Everyone in this clinic who has access to your PHI must follow office information management practices, be aware of and understand requirements to protect personal information, and adhere to the policy that access is restricted to authorized users.
We take steps to protect your personal health information from theft, loss and unauthorized access, copying, modification, use, disclosure and disposal. These steps include safeguards, such as a combination of physical, technological and administrative security measures.
Physical safeguards we use include limited access to clinic areas, authorized access to records, password-protected electronic records, locked filing cabinets for paper records, and clinic layout/features offering soundproofing and white noise to ensure confidentiality.
Technological safeguards we use include protected computer access to PHI, passwords, user authentication, authorized access to records, computer system protections, firewall software, virus scanning software, in-house and off-site backup systems with regular back-ups, and encryption.
Administrative safeguards that we use include office information management practices, authorized access to records, access is on a need-to-know basis, staff awareness and understanding of requirements to protect personal information, and appropriate sanctions for failure to fulfill requirements.
We will conduct audits and complete investigations to monitor and manage our privacy compliance.
It is important to us that our privacy policies and practices address patient/client concerns and respond to patient/client needs. If you have questions about our policies and practices, we encourage you to first speak with your practitioner.
