Privacy Policy

Preamble:

At Milestone Health we know that privacy matters. Your privacy, and the privacy of your loved ones for whom we provide care is a responsibility we take seriously, not just because we’re obligated to but because you have entrusted us with your personal and confidential medical information. Such information is provided in order that we may create an informed, private and sensitive plan of personal care. Providing such intimate services as assisting clients with bathing, dressing, wound care or mental health or mobility issues (as examples,) involves a high degree of trust in your care provider and you need to know that you can trust Milestone Health. 

Here is what we do to help ensure the safety, confidentiality and privacy of the information you’ve shared with us, as it related to the services we provide: 

The Milestone Team

Every service provider employed with Milestone Health is bonded, insured and given extensive guidance and training in keeping with our corporate commitment to your privacy. Milestone Health is committed to providing caring and professional medical, home care, personal assistance care, companion care and more, all with the confidentiality you would expect from persons handling sensitive medical information. Further, each member of the Milestone team is also committed to both the ethical treatment, and protection, of every client’s personal information whether medical or otherwise.  Additionally, our team has any and all appropriate and applicable insurance liability and/or workers compensation coverages. 

Use and Collection of Personal Information

We collect personal information in order to create a treatment plan that best meets your physical needs as well as your psycho/social-emotional and intellectual expectations.  We may collect this information when you visit our website, complete a questionnaire, sign up for a newsletter or more pertinently when you initialize services with us over the phone and/or upon the initial visit of a Milestone Health Case Management worker or PSW to your home. 

At any time we may ask for any (or all) of the following information as part of your enrolment process: 

  • First and last name
  • Phone Number and Email Address
  • Credit Card Information 
  • Address where services will take place
  • Contact information for Next of Kin 
  • General Health Status including overall abilities, blood pressure, a general health history and an assessment of risk
  • Your ability to perform daily tasks, core competencies and address areas of concern
  • A physical assessment of your living space to identify risks and opportunities for improvement

 

For more complex medical care needs we may request additional and more private medical information including a complete and thorough history and health assessment, from you, verbally with regard to surgeries, illness, injuries, allergies etc. and/or from your treating physician, specialists, rehabilitation workers or others. Information and history that relates to your overall state of health is necessary in order to provide you with a care plan that aids in your recovery. We may request access to health records when, or if, necessary. Your written consent for access will be requested at the time of initializing service and again, if we determine that more accurate, complete and updated information is required at any time for the duration of your care. Your consent is considered valid throughout the course of your treatment and/or interactions and/or terms of service with representatives of Milestone Health. You may withdraw permission, in whole or in part, at any time during your care by contacting Milestone Health although this may impact our ability to continue to provide you with service safely and effectively. 

If you have a specific concern at any time, please contact Milestone Health directly to discuss.  

Any and all such information as we obtain is retained and stored safely; solely for the purposes of providing you with a continuity of medically appropriate care, by our dedicated team of professionals, within the privacy of your own living space. 

PIPEDA

The confidentiality and protection of your personal information in our possession is governed by and informed by the guidance of PIPEDA – the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act as well as any applicable provincial and professional standards and/or legislation. We take PIPEDA and the advice of governing bodies as well as our obligations concerning the collection, storage and use of your personal information and security very seriously. At all times we endeavour to protect and keep confidential the information you’ve shared with us as part of your care process.  

Sharing of Personal Information

We are accountable to you! We are committed to ensuring your personal information is held in strictest confidence. Milestone Health collects, uses, discloses, retains and destroys personal information for the sole purpose of our ability to provide you with an exceptional personal care experience and to maintain its privacy and integrity once complete. Your information will not be shared or otherwise disclosed for any purposes with third parties unless and except as explicitly stated and only for the purposes of providing a continuity of care between multiple service providers. (Multi-disciplinary care teams may include: Doctors, Nurses, PSW’s, Registered Therapists and other care providers.)

Alternate Consent

If there are concerns related to the care and capacity of the individual for whom services are provided, and such individual is unable to provide informed consent, i.e.: a minor, those who are seriously ill or living with a mental handicap (whether medical or related to an illness such as dementia or as the result of a traumatic brain injury) such consent will be obtained by an authorized authority on their behalf. This may include but is not limited to:  a legal guardian, power of attorney, executor of your estate or a legal care and capacity board for residents residing in any type of long term care facility.   

Storage and Records Maintenance

Milestone Health follows all provincially regulated standards for the care, protection and storage of your personal information. Such records, whether at our location or off-site storage are stored in a manner that ensures their ongoing security. We maintain compliance with all relevant privacy legislation and use only accredited storage providers who are similarly responsible. This applies to records whether in paper, digital or electronic format. If, at any time, you wish to access your records you are able to do so through a request in writing to Milestone Health. 

Using appropriate safeguards we will make every effort to protect your personal information against loss, theft or any unauthorized use, access, disclosure, copying or modifications of any kind. 

Lawful Use and/or Legal Obligations

Regardless of any and all previous statements, if, at any time, we are required under any applicable law, legislation or specific regulation, and/or are requested by subpoena or search warrant we may share your personal information in order to comply with the request and/or to protect our rights and obligations under the law. 

Changes

From time to time, as privacy laws change, are updated or amended, we may be required to update these policies contained herein. If you would like to know more about our privacy and terms of use/service policies, please contact Milestone Health at any time.

Duty of Care & Courtesy

Milestone Health provides a range of services including:

  • Companion Care
  • Personal Care
  • Home Support
  • MVA Post Accident Care
  • Foot Care
  • Mobile Physiotherapy
  • Respite Care
  • Palliative
  • Case Management 
  • Hospital Discharge Care
  • Dementia Care
  • Stroke Recovery 
  • Cancer Care
  • Disability Care
  • Housekeeping 

and more……..

With such a wide variance in the range of services provided, so too will the range of pertinent private information we are obligated to obtain and maintain, vary. Rest assured, regardless of the breadth and depth of sensitive information acquired in order to create an informed care plan for every client we serve, any and all information will be handled with the same duty of care. 

Additionally, from time to time, during the course of your treatment and/or as part of the services we provide, you may find yourself in conversation with a member of our team; conversations that are not necessarily directly related to your care. As part of our Milestone Health commitment to confidentiality, this policy and all its attendant components apply equally to any and all interactions. Whether concerning your medical and/or written records, or private conversations that take place during the course of our interactions with you, your expectation of privacy is assured.  As a courtesy, it is our expectation that our clients will exercise similar restraint; care and caution as it relates to the disclosure of any and all private information any member of the Milestone Health Care Team may in turn share with you. 

Our commitment to you.

If at any time you have a question, concern or complaint we encourage you to contact Milestone Health directly to discuss. As well, you are entitled to contact the Privacy Commissioner’s Office or any applicable governing body in your location. Milestone Health – We look forward to serving you with care, concern and with your confidentiality assured!