This privacy policy covers the HCF group of companies and includes The Hospitals
Contribution Fund of Australia Limited, HCF Life Insurance Company Pty Limited,
Manchester Unity Australia Ltd and other related bodies corporate.
We are committed to best practice privacy protection. We will do our best to protect
your personal information from the moment you share it with us.
We also observe our obligations under the:
Privacy Act 1988 (Cth); other relevant State legislation dealing with privacy and
health records; and Spam Act 2003 (Cth); as amended from time to time.
What sort of personal information do we collect?
- Primary purpose of collection
- Information in relation to health and life insurance cover and services
We only collect information that is relevant to the insurance cover or services
you ask for. The sort of information we need includes: name, residential, postal
and email addresses and other contact details, your family/single status, date of
birth, medical history and associated social and lifestyle information. We also
collect claims information that you provide us with from time to time.
The information collected cannot be used in determining your rate of health insurance
premium, except in accordance with the Private Health Insurance Act.
- Additional information in relation to life insurance cover and services
We may need to collect additional information if you ask for life insurance. We
may ask you about your type of employment, financial reports and previous insurance
history.
- Information in relation to retirement and aged care services
We only collect your personal information to provide retirement or aged care services
and related products to you.
- Secondary purposes
Any personal information we collect can be used for what is called a secondary purpose,
meaning a purpose other than the original one. For example, we may use the information
you have already given us to provide you with further health services. We would
only use and/or disclose this information in such a situation if you would reasonably
expect us to do so or if we have your permission. When dealing with particularly
sensitive information, such as your claims history, the secondary purpose must be
directly related to the primary purpose.
What happens if you don’t give us this information?
It is your right not to give us any information. However, if you choose not to give
us the personal information we need, we may not be able to
- consider your application for insurance
- administer your policy or provide you with relevant health services
- manage or pay any claims you make under your policy
- provide you with relevant retirement and aged care services.
How do we collect your personal information?
We collect the personal information you give us:
- electronically including through our website;
- during phone calls;
- whilst visiting our branches, Dental or Eyecare Centres;
- whilst delivering and administering services at our retirement or aged care facilities;
or
- from forms, claims and other correspondence, in writing or electronically.
Sometimes we may need to collect sensitive information from third parties such as
doctors or hospitals so we can assess or process claims. We may also need to ask
for information from another health insurer, if you have transferred your membership.
Under some circumstances, we may contact a service provider who has treated you
in the past, if the information would be relevant to your policy.
How do we use your personal information?
- Insurance and Retirement and Aged Care Services
Your personal information is collected so that we can comply with laws, manage our
relationship with you, record your treatment, provide health insurance and related
products and services to you, investigate and act on fraudulent or improper claims,
assess your insurance, health and related lifestyle needs, develop products and
services that may better serve those needs, provide you with retirement or aged
care services, and assess your possible interest in such products and services.
- Developing programs for the benefit of members with health insurance
From the personal information that we collect from our members in providing health
insurance, we are able to develop programs that are intended for the benefit of
members. In some instances, participation in these programs is offered to all members.
In other instances, the invitation to participate is targeted at specific members
who are most likely to benefit from participation in the programs.
Where the program is designed to assist members generally, we will inform members
via a general communication of the availability of the program, for example, via
the web site or through our publications or advertisements, and invite them to participate
in the program by opting in to the program.
Where the program is designed to assist members with specific illnesses and conditions
we will offer those members the choice of opting in to participate in the program.
In relation to all programs:
- Participation is entirely voluntary;
- Participation or non-participation will not affect your claims benefits or premiums
or your client relationship in any way; and
- If you do not wish to participate in a program after you are invited to join, you
may decline the invitation or may, at any time, withdraw from any program in which
you may have been enrolled.
If you do not wish to be contacted regarding participation in any programs developed
by us, you may ask for your name to be added to a “no contact” list. Members on
this “no contact” list will not be invited to join any programs developed by us
for the benefit of members.
Do we disclose information to third parties?
We recognise the trust you place in us when you provide personal information. We
will not sell or rent your information in any circumstances. We may share or disclose
your personal information to third parties, including to organisations that deliver
services on our behalf or to us, government agencies, health service providers (where
it is used to improve their ability to provide you with health services), research
companies contracted by us (to ask your opinions on improving the Group’s service,
benefits or product offerings), mailing houses, and other health insurers and law
enforcement agencies in cases of suspected fraud. In some situations we may have
to disclose necessary, relevant and appropriate information to satisfy legal obligations.
Organisations that deliver services on our behalf or to us may require your personal
information for accounting and auditing purposes, claims assessment and processing
or providing other services and products.
The programs that we develop for the benefit of members are frequently administered
by third party service providers. In order for them to administer these programs
it may be necessary for us to disclose your personal information to them.
These organisations and third party service providers are under contractual obligations
not to disclose your personal information and to use that information solely to
deliver services on our behalf, and not to use it to offer other services to members.
At the conclusion of the program the service provider is required to return that
information to us or destroy any personal information about the member provided
by us. If you choose to participate in a program, these third party service providers
may collect personal information, including sensitive information from you. That
personal information is not disclosed to us, except as permitted under the Privacy
Act. For example, this may include information for conducting clinical audits and
for billing purposes.
Through the conduct of our business, we collect and use information that may include
personal information about providers and their charges, and we may publish some
or all of this information on our website or communicate it to our members in other
ways, as a service to our members.
We do not normally give personal information about you to anyone who is not on your
membership. You will need to give us written permission if you want someone who
is not covered by your membership, such as a friend or carer, to deal with us on
your behalf.
Our privacy obligations extend to everyone who is covered by your policy, including
partners and children. However, our contract with the contributor requires us to
have full and free communication with the contributor on all aspects of the policy,
including the benefits claimed under the policy.
We send all communications on policies that cover more than one person to the address
supplied by the contributor. Everyone who is covered by the policy should be made
aware of this.
Is the information that we hold about you accurate?
We take reasonable steps to ensure that the information we hold about you is accurate
when we use it or disclose it. You should contact us if you think your personal
information is wrong. If you need to update your contact details, you can do so
through the members’ section of our website at www.hcf.com.au.
Can anyone outside the HCF group of companies access my information?
We have put in place safeguards to protect the personal information we hold from
misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We destroy or
permanently de-identify personal information we no longer need, wherever possible.
In the case of clinical information collected in our Dental Centres, your information
will be held for at least seven years from the last time a health service was provided.
If someone under the age of 18 used the health service, the information will be
held at least until that person has turned 25.
We do not transfer personal information to any other jurisdiction unless it is in
accordance with Australian privacy laws.
How is information from our websites collected and used?
We collect information when you:
- Complete an online form;
- Give us your email address; or
- Access and use any of our services through our website.
We collect data from our website to help us understand which are the most popular pages and when the peak usage times are,
along with other information that helps us improve the content and make the navigation easier.
When you visit our website, it will send a cookie to your computer. This is a small piece of information stored on your hard drive
which tells us that your computer has accessed our website. The cookie will not identify you unless you’ve already given us personal information such as your name and email address. If you do not want to use cookies, you can set your browser to reject them.
HCF uses remarketing with Google Analytics to advertise online. Third-party vendors, including Google, show HCF
advertisements on website sites across the Internet. HCF and third-party vendors, including Google, use first-party
cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) together to inform,
optimize, and serve ads based on someone’s past visits to the HCF website.
What about linked websites?
We provide links to third party sites. Since we do not control these websites, we
encourage you to review the privacy policies posted on these third party sites.
We are not responsible for any practices on linked websites that might breach your
privacy.
How to access your personal information
If you have a question about this Privacy Policy or want to access your personal
information you can contact us:
- At any HCF branch
- Phone 13 13 34
- Write to:
HCF
Customer Service
403 George St
Sydney NSW 2000
A request for access needs to include a full description of the personal information
requested. If making a request in person, you will be asked for two forms of identification,
one of which must have a photograph on it. If you request information over the phone,
we will ask you identity-related questions so we can verify you. Your request for
privacy information will be documented, as will details of the request and the identity
of the person who gave it to you.
You will not be charged for accessing your information, although we might have to
charge the reasonable cost of processing your request, including photocopying, copying
of radiographs, supplying written reports, administration and postage.
How we will respond to your request
We will respond within 48 hours of receiving your request. We will do our best to
deal with your request within 5 working days. If we cannot help with your request,
you will receive a written explanation as to why.
Need further information?
For more information about privacy in general, you can visit the Privacy Commissioner's
website at www.privacy.gov.au.
Do you want to contact us anonymously?
You can certainly contact us anonymously. If you choose not to be identified, however,
we are limited in our ability to insure you, pay your claims or offer you services.
Can you complain about a breach of privacy?
If you want to complain about a privacy breach, you can visit an HCF branch, call
13 13 34 or email
service@hcf.com.au. We will do our best to resolve your complaint
as quickly as possible.
If you are not satisfied with the result of your complaint to us, you can refer
your complaint to the:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Phone: 1300 363 992
Post: GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
Online form: www.oaic.gov.au (Privacy Complaint Form)
Spam Policy
Nobody wants to receive spam. That’s why we have put a robust anti-spam policy in
place, and why we fulfil our obligations under the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) at all times.
We have created internal policies and procedures to educate its staff on the Spam
Act legislation. We have developed clear guidelines and rules about the dissemination
of commercial electronic messages, which we enforce.
We will use your personal information to send you commercial electronic messages
in accordance with the terms of this privacy policy unless you unsubscribe. You
can unsubscribe from our mailing list at any time. To unsubscribe, simply email
us at
service@hcf.com.au
and advise us of your wish to unsubscribe. Otherwise, call 13 13 34.
We will arrange for your details to be removed.
Help stamp out spam
To help us combat spam, please do the following:
If you receive an offensive message that seems to come from our email address, please
assume it has been sent in error. Notify us immediately.
Please ensure that you unsubscribe from our mailing lists if you do not want to
receive commercial messages from us.
If you do subscribe to our mailing list, please ensure that we have your current
details at all times. Update us on any changes to your email address.
Updating our Privacy Policy
We may review, amend or revise our Privacy Policy and the way we handle personal
information from time to time.
Such changes will be consistent with current privacy legislation. We will post the updated Privacy Policy on our website at www.hcf.com.au.
Last update: December 2011
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