Privacy in Telehealth: What Happens to Your Health Information

The Rules That Protect Health Information

Health information has its own category in Australian privacy law. Under the Privacy Act 1988 it is sensitive information, which carries stricter rules than ordinary personal details. A health service generally needs your consent to collect it and can use it only for the purpose it was collected for, or for a closely related one you would expect.

Some states and territories add their own health records laws. Registered practitioners also owe a duty of confidentiality under their professional codes, whether they see you in a room or on a screen.

Telehealth does not lower any of these standards. The telehealth consultation, the questionnaire and the messages in a patient portal are all covered.

Who Sees What

A telehealth pathway involves more than one organisation. Each should receive only what it needs for its part.

What Reaches My Health Record

Most people in Australia have a My Health Record unless they chose not to have one. Pathology providers upload most reports to it by default, and practitioners and pharmacies may upload information about your care as well.

You have controls. You can ask the practitioner who writes a request, or the staff at the collection centre, not to upload a particular report. Inside your record you can restrict who sees a document or remove it, and you can cancel the record altogether.

My Health Record is run by the Australian Government, not by your clinic. If you do not have a record, nothing is uploaded to one.

How Long Records Are Kept and How to See Yours

Clinical records are kept for years, not months. For adults a typical minimum in Australia is seven years from the last contact. The exact period varies by state or territory and by type of record, and different rules apply to records about children. During that period a health service will usually decline a request to delete a clinical record, because health records laws and professional guidance generally expect it to be kept.

You have a right to ask for access to the personal information a service holds about you and to ask for it to be corrected if it is wrong. Put the request in writing. The service may need to confirm your identity first.

If you think your information has been mishandled, complain to the service first. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can go to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Organisations covered by the Privacy Act must also tell you about a data breach that is likely to cause serious harm.

Discretion at Home, at Work and in a Small Town

Many people choose telehealth so they do not have to explain themselves at a front desk where they are known. That is a fair reason, and a few habits keep it discreet.

Take the telehealth consultation somewhere private and use headphones. Check which email address and phone number receive reminders, and what shows on your lock screen. Have parcels sent to an address where you are the one who opens them.

Discretion has one sensible limit. Your regular GP should know what you have been prescribed, so your medicines can be checked against each other. For how a consultation is set out, see how the Regeniq consultation process works. For the detail of what is collected and why, read the Regeniq privacy policy.

Your Information on the Regeniq Pathway

The Regeniq online assessment asks about your health history, symptoms, goals and lifestyle. Your answers help your practitioner prepare for your consultation, and the assessment is not a diagnosis. To see what it asks, you can start the online assessment.

The telehealth consultation is private and one to one, and you join it from your patient portal. Reminders are sent by email and SMS a week before a follow-up or pathology date and again on the day, so check which email address and phone number you give. Your care plan stays in your patient portal, where you can read it at any time.