Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture Society of Australia Ltd

Language

FORUM
LOGIN

Privacy Policy

Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Society of Australia
Privacy Policy
May 2023

About this Privacy Policy

The Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Society of Australia (referred to in this document as CMASA, we or us) is committed to fair handling practices of information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act 1988. The Privacy Act sets out 13 APPs which regulate how we collect, use, disclose and store your personal information, and how you access and correct personal information we hold about you. Our primary purpose in collecting personal information is to enable us to provide CMASA services to members in the most effective way and to respond to your expectations and requirements efficiently and promptly. This CMASA Privacy Policy explains how we comply with the Privacy Act. This policy is also intended as a guide to all CMASA members.

What personal information do we collect?

Personal information

Under the Privacy Act, personal information is defined as:
“information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

  • whether the information or opinion is true or not; and
  • whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.’

 

We collect personal information from members and public relating to the use of CMASA services, for example, professional registration, responses to enquiries or invoicing. Depending on the circumstances, even when the information does not include your name, date of birth or personal identify, it may still be considered as personal information if it includes other potentially identifying information about you. Most of the time, we collect your name, date of birth, contact details (telephone/ fax/mobile number, email address, membership number, date of joining CMASA, details of business practice/s, educational qualifications, First Aid and academic qualifications, accredited modalities, Professional Indemnity insurance policy details and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) record details.

 

Under the Privacy Act 1988, we will only collect your personal information where reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, services provided by CMASA. Sometimes we may receive your unsolicited personal information voluntarily from yourself or others when it is not requested by us, for example, if a patient writes to us providing feedback on your service.

 

We may receive potentially identifying personal information about children or young people related to services provided by our members. For example, we may receive your voluntary reports to CMASA alerting other members of notifiable diseases or adverse events of these patients for risk management, or disputes with consumers regarding a child or a young person when you seek assistance or support from CMASA. We will only collect personal information about children when required or authorised by or under law, or otherwise in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988. If a young child or young person does not have the capacity to consent, we will seek consent from an authorised person they are associated with. We will take every reasonable means to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the personal information we collect from or about you.

Sensitive information

Sensitive information is considered a subset of personal information. Sensitive information is defined in the Privacy Act as information or an opinion about a person’s:

  • racial or ethnic origin
  • political opinions or membership of a political association
  • religious beliefs or affiliations
  • philosophical beliefs
  • membership of a professional association or trade association
  • union membership
  • sexual orientation or practices
  • criminal record
  • health or genetic information
  • biometric information or biometric templates.

Sometimes we also need to collect sensitive information to enable us to provide member services. This may include information about your health status, racial or ethnic origin, or religious beliefs or affiliations. We will only collect of disclose sensitive personal information when you have consented, it is required or authorised by or under law, or where we are permitted under the Privacy Act.

How is your personal information collected?

We collect your personal information only by lawful and fair means. In most cases, we will collect your personal information directly from you. However, there may be circumstances in which we will collect personal information about you from your representative or a third party where you consent, where required or authorised by or under certain legislation, or where it is unreasonable or impractical to collect the information only from you.

 

Mostly personal information is collected to respond to your enquiries, registration, training, or invoicing. CMASA collects personal information in several ways: via forms (paper-based, electronic, on-line forms), face to face, telephone, email, fax communications, databases, data sharing with the Australian, state or territory government agencies.

How do we use, disclose or share your information?

Your personal information will be used by CMASA to perform one or all of the following tasks:

  • Administer and manage services by CMASA,
  • Provide the services required by members,
  • Process membership applications or financial matters,
  • Assist in the members’ research and development, and
  • Maintain and develop our business systems and infrastructure such as upgrading of electronic systems.

 

We may share your information with third parties for the reasons mentioned above, or where the law otherwise allows or requires us to do so. We may share your information with regulatory bodies, government agencies or law enforcement bodies to comply with our legislative or regulatory obligations in any of the jurisdictions in Australia where we operate. We may share your information with private health insurance funds to process your application for private health insurance rebates, and to certain financial institution for the provision of banking services.

 

In every means of information collection or use, we comply with the APPs in the Privacy Act 1988. Some of the information collected by us may be disclosed to business partners or individuals who provide services to CMASA outside of Australia. You consent to your information being disclosed to a destination outside Australia for this purpose, and we will take all reasonable measures to ensure that our service providers oblige to the Australian Privacy Principles.

How do we hold your personal information safe?

We will take all reasonable means to protect the security of your personal information that we hold. This includes appropriate measures to protect both electronic materials stored and those generated in hard copy. If we become aware of a breach of the security of the personal information we hold, we will respond in accordance with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 within a reasonable timeframe.

 

We aim to ensure that the personal information we hold is accurate, complete and up-to-date. To assist us with this, please inform us immediately if the details you have provided change. Moreover, if you believe that the information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, please contact us and we will make all reasonable efforts to amend the information.

What if you do not wish to provide or disclose your personal information?

You are not obliged to provide us your personal information. If you do not wish to provide your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with the services you request. If you are a member, you may not be able to receive full membership benefits.

 

If you do not want your personal information disclosed to a third party, please advise us in writing to Members CMASA Office at cmasatcm@hotmail.com. In this case, again you may not be able to receive full benefits as a member.

For how long do we keep your personal information?

We keep your personal information for as long as is required to enable us to provide services to you. Personal information that is no longer required will be destroyed, and removed from CMASA membership or Health Fund registers when a member resigns, discontinues service. However, we may keep historical personal information and membership records for the purpose of auditing or undertaking strategic or operational analysis for performance improvement and reporting.

How do we store your data and how do we protect data quality and security?

The personal information you provide to CMASA will be stored on secure databases either in the CMASA Office or in a cloud infrastructure provided by the cloud service provider within Australia. The information will only be accessible to authorised individuals.

 

While CMASA makes every effort to protect the personal information we collect and hold from any unauthorised use, the nature of the information systems determines that the security of information relies on commercially available technologies to secure our information systems. We also rely on the information that are provided to CMASA. Primarily it is your responsibility to ensure that information you provide is accurate, relevant and legitimate.

What if you want more information on how we protect your privacy or if you have a complaint?

If you have any concern, issue, or if you wish to make a complaint, in relation to the content provided in this policy regarding how we collect, use, disclose and store your personal information, please do not hesitate to contact us by email to cmasaoffice@gmail.com. We will acknowledge and respond to your request timely. It if it is a complaint, we will investigate it, and make a decision as quickly as possible about how to resolve it within a reasonable timeframe. We may need to contact you for further information. We will provide you with our determination when it is made.

How do you access your personal information?

You are entitled to access to and can contact us for your personal information provided to us by contacting the CMASA Office. For security, if you contact us to request access to your personal information, you will be asked to provide sufficient information to verify your genuine identity. Depending on the nature of your request we may ask you to submit your request in writing if required to CMASA Office at cmasatcm@hotmail.com. CMASA may refuse access if it reasonably believes that providing access would be unlawful or would prejudice a legal investigation the request for access is frivolous and /or vexatious.

How do you update or amend your information?

All CMASA members can choose to update or correct the information about themselves any time by logging in online to the CMASA website or notify the CMASA Head Office by telephone, fax or email (Please refer to the CMASA contact details in the last session of this Policy). An administration fee may be charged on a cost recovery basis.

Revision of this Policy

This Privacy Policy is subject to updating in accordance with the law regarding the protection of personal information changes. The Policy was last revised on 23 May 2023. If you have any concerns about the handling of your personal information or require further information about CMASA Privacy Policy, please do not hesitate to contact us.

CMASA Head Office Contact:

Address: Level 1, 23 John Street Cabramatta NSW 2166
Email: cmasaoffice@gmail.com
Telephone: 02 97276831
Fax: 02 97278981

join CMASA

join over 3300 practitioners in Australia

Find a Doctor

Find a qualified TCM practitioner near you

Continuing Education

CPD Events for you to choose

About us

The highest authority of the society is the annual general meeting. The term of each council is two years. One-third of the updated directors selected by all members at the annual general meeting are enriched to the board of directors.

Site map
Connect With Us

Australian Business Number: 46 086 774 996

Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture Society of Australia Ltd @2024. All rights reserved