MSI Australia Privacy Policy
1. Purpose and objective
MSI Australia is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of our clients, staff, and stakeholders in the course of providing our services. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, hold, use, disclose, and protect personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988.
The policy outlines choices clients have regarding our use and handling of that personal information, and your ability to access or correct that personal information.
From time to time, MSI requires the services of other companies and entities (related entities). This Privacy Policy applies to the use of your personal information by us and by those related entities. Those related entities may also have their own privacy policies which set out additional detail or differences in their privacy practices.
To the extent that those Privacy Policies are inconsistent with this privacy policy, those privacy policies will prevail over this privacy policy in relation to the actions of those related entities.
2. Personal information we collect and hold
We treat your Personal Data with the utmost care and in compliance with the applicable data protection Commonwealth and State laws and regulations. The types of Personal Information we may collect about an individual will depend upon the nature of our interaction with them. Personal Information that we collect may include (but is not limited to) the following:
General Information, inclusive but not limited to:
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Name, age and date of birth
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contact details including telephone numbers (landline and/or mobile)
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current address (including postal address)
- email address
- Sex
- Gender diversity
- Occupation
- country of birth and/or ethnicity
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Status
- Australian South Sea Islander Status
- Employment status
- marital status
- languages spoken
- referring doctor name and contact details, including AHPRA registration details and practitioner classification type
Medical Information if you book a procedure with us, inclusive but not limited to:
- General medical information, including pregnancy history
- procedure details, including procedure type, location and date of procedure
- medical and other diagnostic test
- payment details, such as your credit card or bank account details
- emergency contact information
- support persons contact information
- allergies
- medication record
- smoking status
- Medicare and Low-Income Health Care Card (if applicable) number
- private health insurance details
- pharmacy or medical practice name and contact details
Application Information: Information from or in connection with your resume or job application if you apply for a position with MSI:
- employment history and qualifications
- academic records
- references
- personal alternative contact details
- Tax File Number and superannuation details
- criminal history checks
- credentialing documentation provided by a registered medical practitioner who are authorised to prescribe medical abortion medication.
- identity documents
Contractor information:
- trade references, credit references or reports from a third party
- consumer and commercial credit reports
- financial information including your ABN or ACN
- payment details
3. MSI use of personal data
We collect Personal Information to allow us to provide quality healthcare and to assist us to provide and sell our products and services in a reliable and secure manner. In some circumstances the collection of Personal Information may be required as a part of the statutory requirements under Australian laws.
In general, we use the collected information for the following purposes:
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- To provide surgical and medical services.
- To sell medical products that assist with our work.
- To manage appointments, consultations, and follow-up care.
- To process billing and insurance claims.
- To comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
- To improve our services through research and quality assurance (with appropriate consent where required).
- Generally, when providing our products and services, dealing with our personnel, or obtaining goods and services from our service providers, suppliers, or contractors, we collect personal information directly from the relevant individual where reasonable and practicable.
- We may also collect Personal Information about clients from third parties and other sources such as:
- nominated representatives (e.g. spouse power of attorney, and other professional advisors)
- community health workers
- referring doctors.
- publicly available sources of information
- credit providers, or
- credit reporting bodies who provide information about a stakeholder’s credit worthiness.
We will only collect Personal Information in this way if we have your consent to collection via a third party as listed above.
Where consent is unable to be obtained when collecting personal information via a third party, we may deem this collection as reasonably necessary to enable us to provide you with the appropriate health care (such as in the case of an emergency medical treatment) unless the law allows us to collect it without your consent.
In most cases, if a client/ stakeholder chooses not to provide Personal Information to us for the purposes set out in this Policy, or if we do not or are unable to collect the Personal Information we require, we may not be able to provide you with requested information, products or services, or to effectively conduct our relationship with you.
4. Information collected via our website
Personal information may be collected by our third-party service providers who assist us in operating our websites; including msiaustralia.org.au, vasectomy.org.au, mshealth.com.au, and ms2step.com.au, including the subdomains and any other website we operate from time to time (collectively our websites).
Our websites may include online forms that allow individuals to submit personal information (for example, online booking enquiry forms and feedback forms).
Personal information that clients choose to submit through these forms will be used for the purposes notified in that form.
MSI Australia always reserve the right to monitor, review, retain, and/or disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any applicable law, but we have no obligation to monitor the use of the Websites or to retain the content of any user session.
MSI Australia may otherwise collect, use or disclose your Personal Information where the collection, use or disclosure is:
- in accordance with this Privacy Policy or any agreement you enter with us; or
- is required or authorised by law, including without limitation the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) or applicable health records legislation in the relevant State or Territory.
5. Click Stream Data
When individuals read, browse or download information from our websites, we or our internet service provider may also collect information such as the date, time and duration of a visit, the pages accessed, the IP address of the computer, and any information downloaded.
The information is used for statistical reporting and website administration, maintenance and improvement purposes only and will not be used to identify you.
However, in the event we experience an issue with our websites, we may utilise click stream data to identify the user; the purpose of identification is solely to notify you of any messages or alerts you may have missed as a result of the incident we experienced.
6. Cookies and pixels
For more information, please review our Cookie and Pixel Policy.
7. Disclosures of personal information
MSI may disclose, or provide access to, your Personal Information to third parties described in this policy.
Depending on the circumstances and the nature of your engagement with us, we may disclose your Personal Information to:
- our related entities
- third parties that provide products and services to us or through us
- A subpoena/ warrant/court order for your medical records when requested by a judge
- other third parties (such as your referee(s) in connection with a job application you have submitted)
- Certain agencies and enforcement bodies when required under a statutory exception to the duty of confidentiality
We may also disclose your personal information to:
- any of MSI internal divisions, business units or departments
- your nominated representatives
- other organisations or individuals who assist us in providing products and services to you
- professional service providers and advisors who perform functions on our behalf, such as lawyers
- representatives, agents, or contractors who are appointed by us in the ordinary operation of our business to assist us in providing goods or services or administering our business
- entities who are your credit providers or trade suppliers
- leaders, insurers, brokers, auditors, business consultants and IT service providers, and
- Government, private health insurance providers, regulatory authorities, and other organisations as required or authorised by law (such as Centrelink, Medicare or the Police).
We may also disclose your Personal Information to our Website host or software application providers in certain limited circumstances, for example when our websites experience a technical problem or to ensure that they are operating in an effective and secure manner.
We may also disclose your Personal Information to a purchaser or potential purchaser in connection with the sale or potential sale of MSI Australia, our business or any of our assets, including in insolvency, in circumstances which require the purchaser or potential purchaser to use such Personal Information consistently with this Privacy Policy.
8. Overseas disclosures
We do not send or disclose your Personal Information overseas. However, in certain circumstances we may share Personal Information with our overseas head office, located in: London, United Kingdom.
Some Personal Information may be disclosed, transferred, stored, processed, or used overseas by us, or by third party service providers. This may happen if:
- our offices or related entities are overseas
- we outsource certain activities overseas
- transactions, information, services or products have an overseas connection, or
- our computer systems including IT servers are located overseas.
You consent to the collection, use, storage, and processing of your Personal Information outside of Australia as set out in this Privacy Policy
Where such parties are located overseas, the use and collection of data will continue to obey the Australian Privacy Principles and only collect data where it is deemed reasonably necessary.
9. Marketing
MSI Australia will ask for consent to:
- Use your Personal Information for sending you information, including promotional material, about us or our products and services, as well as the products and services of our related entities and third parties, now and in the future.
- Send you such information by means of direct mail, email, SMS and MMS messages. However, we will only send you marketing material if you opt in to receive this material.
If you do not want to receive marketing information from us, you can do so in any of the following ways:
- by clicking on the ‘Unsubscribe’ or subscription preferences link in a direct marketing email that you have received from us; or
- by contacting us using the contact details below.
10. Storage and security of personal information held by MSI
We aim to keep your Personal Information secure.
11. Access your personal information
Clients are entitled to access Personal Information that we hold regarding them.
Depending on the nature of the request, MSI Australia may charge for providing access to this information, however such charge will not be excessive.
Exceptions to accessing your personal information can be refused on many grounds however, we will provide you with reasons for the refusal.
If you do not agree with our reasons for the refusal of releasing your information, we recommend that you contact the Office of Australian Information Commissioner to make a formal complaint.
A request for access can be made by completing the Application request for Health Information form. Requests can only be done in writing, we do not accept requests via telephone or in person.
Questions, enquires, and requests to your personal information can be sent to the below our Health Information Manager/Privacy Officer:
MSI Website Online: https://www.msiaustralia.org.au/contact-us/
Email Address: ISTP@msiaustralia.org.au
Phone: 1300 003 707
12. Correct your personal information
Contact us in any of the ways specified in contact details below if you believe that the personal information is inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date, and we will use all reasonable efforts to correct the information.
Contact our Health Information Manager/Privacy Officer
MSI Website Online: https://www.msiaustralia.org.au/contact-us/
Email Address: ISTP@msiaustralia.org.au
Phone: 1300 003 707
12. Questions and complaints
If an individual feels that we have not respected their privacy or that we have conducted ourselves inconsistently with this Privacy Policy, please contact our Privacy Officer in any of the ways specified in contact details above and we ask to be advised as soon as possible.
13. Updates to this Privacy Policy
We may, from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy, including to take into account new laws, regulations, practices and technology.
14. References
Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)
Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) and
Health Services Act 1988 (Vic)
Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) and Health Privacy Principles (HPP)
Mental Health Act 2014 (Vic);
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic).
Australian Privacy Principles (quick reference)
This Privacy Statement was last updated in January 2025.