Privacy Policy

1Information We Collect

1.1 Personal Information

We collect information that can identify you, including:

• Name, address, and contact information
• Health history and medical information
• Family medical history
• Insurance and payment information
• Emergency contact details
• Appointment scheduling information
• Previous treatments and therapy experiences
• Diagnostic imaging and reports
• Treatment preferences and goals

1.2 Website Usage Data

Our website automatically collects certain information through Webflow analytics, including:

• Demographic information of site visitors
• Browser type and version
• Operating system
• Pages visited and time spent
• Referring websites
• IP address
• Geographic location

2How We Collect Information

2.1 Direct Collection

We collect information through:

• In-person registration and appointments
• Medical history forms
• Direct communication (email, phone, or in-person)
• Website contact forms

2.2 Automatic Collection

We use Webflow analytics and tracking technologies to collect website usage data automatically. You may opt out of this tracking through your browser settings. See Website, Analytics and Cookies for details.

3How We Use Your Information

3.1 Primary Purposes

• Providing healthcare services, including physiotherapy, massage therapy, chiropractic care, vestibular therapy, and other treatment modalities
• Assessing your health needs
• Creating and maintaining treatment plans
• Communicating about your care
• Processing insurance claims
• Scheduling appointments

3.2 Secondary Purposes

• Improving our services
• Analyzing website performance
• Understanding visitor demographics
• Marketing our services (with your consent)
• Meeting regulatory requirements

4Health Privacy Law and Your Consent

4.1 How the law applies

Vaughan Physiotherapy Clinic is a health information custodian under Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA). We collect, use and disclose your personal health information in accordance with PHIPA. Where we handle personal information that is not health information, the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) applies where required.

4.2 Consent within your circle of care

When you come to us for care, we rely on your implied consent to collect, use and share your personal health information with other health care providers in your circle of care, for the purpose of providing or assisting in your care.

4.3 Consent outside your circle of care

We ask for your express consent before we disclose your personal health information to anyone outside your circle of care, such as an insurer, a lawyer or an employer, unless the law permits or requires the disclosure without consent.

4.4 Withdrawing or limiting consent

You may withdraw or limit your consent at any time by telling us. This includes asking us not to share certain information with particular health care providers (often called a “lockbox”). Where PHIPA requires, we will let those providers know that some information has been withheld. Withdrawing consent does not affect uses or disclosures made before you withdrew it.

5Service Providers

We use service providers to help us run the clinic. They process information on our behalf, under agreements that require them to keep it confidential and protect it with appropriate safeguards. These include providers of:

• Electronic medical records and scheduling (Juvonno)
• Online forms and records (Airtable)
• Appointment reminders by text message and email
• Payment processing
• Website hosting and analytics (Webflow)
• Cloud storage

Some of these providers may store or process information outside Ontario or outside Canada. When that happens, the information may be subject to the laws of those places, and our agreements still require it to be protected.

6Use of Artificial Intelligence

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support administrative and communication tasks, such as drafting messages, organizing schedules and summarizing information.

• Our clinicians make all assessment, diagnosis and treatment decisions. AI tools do not make decisions about your care.
• Any AI-assisted content about your care is reviewed by a clinician.
• We only enter personal health information into AI tools that we have assessed for privacy and security, and we share only the minimum information needed for the task.
• We do not use patient information to train public AI models.
• If your clinician uses an AI note-taking (scribe) tool during your visit, they will tell you and ask for your consent first.

You can ask us whether AI tools were used in relation to your records, and you can ask that AI tools not be used for your care. We will accommodate your request where we reasonably can.

7Information Protection

We implement various security measures to protect your information:

• Secured and monitored premises
• Password-protected electronic systems
• Staff privacy training
• Encrypted data transmission
• Limited access to personal information
• Privacy agreements with external consultants

8Privacy Breaches

If your personal health information is stolen, lost, or used or disclosed without authorization, we will notify you at the first reasonable opportunity. Where PHIPA requires, we will also report the breach to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.

9Retention of Information

We keep your records for the periods required by the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario and the standards of the other regulatory colleges our clinicians belong to. This is generally at least 10 years from your last visit or, for patients who were under 18, at least 10 years after their 18th birthday, whichever is later. After that, we securely destroy records by:

• Shredding paper documents
• Securely deleting electronic files
• Physical destruction of hardware when disposed

10Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access your personal information
• Request corrections to your information
• Opt out of marketing communications
• Withdraw consent for data collection
• File a complaint about our privacy practices

10.1 Access and correction

You have the right to see and get a copy of your personal health information, and to ask us to correct it if you believe it is inaccurate or incomplete. Please send your request in writing to our Privacy Officer (see Contact Our Privacy Officer). We will respond within 30 days, as PHIPA requires. In some cases PHIPA allows this time to be extended, and we will tell you if that happens. A reasonable fee may apply for access, as permitted under PHIPA.

11Complaints

If you have a concern about how we handle your information, please contact our Privacy Officer first so we can try to resolve it. You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario:

• Website: www.ipc.on.ca
• Phone: 1-800-387-0073

12Website, Analytics and Cookies

Our website uses analytics tools, including Webflow analytics, and cookies. Cookies are small text files saved by your browser. They help the site work properly and help us understand how visitors use it, such as which pages are viewed and for how long.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Most browsers let you refuse all cookies, accept only some, or alert you when a cookie is set. If you block cookies, some parts of the site may not work as expected.

Links to other websites, such as our online booking portal, are covered by those websites’ own privacy policies.

13Contact Our Privacy Officer

For questions about this policy, to make an access or correction request, or to raise a privacy concern, please contact: