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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 22 June 2026

Who we are

This Privacy Policy applies to Telehealthy Pty Ltd (ABN 41 695 721 138), trading as Telehealthy ("we", "us", "our"). We provide online medical services to patients across Australia by video and phone consultation.

We handle personal information and health information. Health information is one of the most sensitive types of personal information under Australian law. We take that seriously. This policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, how we use and store it, and the rights you have over it.

We are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). We also follow the privacy and record-keeping obligations that apply to registered health practitioners. You can read the Australian Privacy Principles on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) website at www.oaic.gov.au.

Our contact details

If you have a question about this policy or your information, contact us:

Identifying yourself: anonymity and pseudonymity

Due to the nature of the health services we provide, it is generally impracticable for us to deal with individuals who have not identified themselves. Accurate identification is required to ensure the safety and continuity of clinical care, to comply with our legal and professional obligations under applicable health legislation, and to meet the requirements of Medicare and private health insurance billing.

You can ask a general question without giving us your full details. But we cannot provide a consultation, assessment, prescription, referral or any clinical service until we have confirmed who you are.

What personal information we collect

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable. The personal information we may collect includes:

  • Your name, date of birth and gender
  • Your contact details, including email, phone number and address
  • Identity documents used to verify who you are
  • Your account login details
  • Payment and billing details
  • Information about how you use our website, collected through cookies and similar tools

What health information we collect

Health information is a special category of sensitive information under the Privacy Act. We only collect the health information we need to provide your care safely and lawfully. This may include:

  • Your past and current medical history
  • Your symptoms and the reason for your consultation
  • Current and past medications, allergies and adverse reactions
  • Notes made by your practitioner during and after a consultation
  • Prescriptions issued, where clinically appropriate
  • Referrals to other health practitioners or services
  • Pathology and diagnostic requests and their results
  • Care plans and follow-up arrangements
  • Your Medicare number and private health fund details, where used for billing or claiming
  • Consultation metadata, such as the date, time, duration and method of each consultation, and which practitioner you saw

We collect health information only with your consent, or where the collection is required or authorised by law.

How we collect your information

Where it is reasonable and practicable, we collect your information directly from you. This may be through our website, our online forms, your account, by email or phone, or during a consultation. In some cases we may collect information from other sources, such as another treating practitioner, a pathology provider, or a person authorised to act on your behalf. When we do, we take reasonable steps to make sure you are aware the information has been collected.

Unsolicited information

From time to time, we may receive personal or health information that we did not solicit. Where we receive unsolicited personal information, we will promptly assess whether that information is of a kind we could have collected under our standard collection practices. If we could not have collected it, and it is not contained in a record we are required to keep, we will destroy or de-identify it where it is lawful and reasonable to do so.

Why we collect, hold, use and disclose your information

We collect, hold, use and disclose your information to:

  • Verify your identity
  • Provide your consultations, assessments and clinical care
  • Issue prescriptions, referrals and requests where clinically appropriate
  • Keep accurate clinical records
  • Process payments and Medicare or health fund claims
  • Communicate with you about your care and our services
  • Meet our legal, professional and regulatory obligations
  • Improve the safety and quality of our services

We may disclose your information to other health practitioners and providers involved in your care, such as a pharmacy of your choice, a pathology provider, another doctor, or your regular GP. Where it is practical to do so, we will seek your consent before coordinating your care with another provider. We may also disclose your information where required or authorised by law.

Direct marketing

We will only use your contact details to send you marketing communications, such as updates or offers, where you have consented to receive them. Marketing consent is separate from the consent you give to receive healthcare services. We do not use your health information to target marketing to you.

Every marketing message we send includes a simple way to opt out. You can also opt out at any time by contacting us at [email protected]. Opting out of marketing does not affect your care.

Cookies and website tracking

Our website uses cookies and similar tracking tools to help the site work and to understand how it is used. Some cookies are needed for the site to function. Others help us measure and improve performance.

Because our website is about health services, the pages you visit can reveal sensitive interests. We are careful with this information. We do not use website tracking to build a health profile of you, and we do not use it to target health-related marketing. You can manage or block cookies through your browser settings. Blocking some cookies may affect how parts of the site work.

Government and healthcare identifiers

We may collect government and healthcare identifiers, such as your Medicare number or an Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI). We only collect, use and disclose these identifiers for limited purposes allowed by law, such as billing, claiming, and linking your records to the correct patient. We do not adopt a government identifier as our own way of identifying you, and we do not use it as a general account number.

Use of automated tools and artificial intelligence

We may use software tools, including automated and artificial intelligence tools, to support tasks such as scheduling, transcription, summarising information, and helping practitioners work efficiently.

These tools support our practitioners. They do not replace them. A registered practitioner reviews and is responsible for your clinical care. No prescription is issued, and no clinical decision is finalised, without review by a registered practitioner. We do not make clinical decisions about you by automated means alone.

Telehealth and your privacy

We provide care by video and phone. To keep your care safe and your information secure, we will verify your identity before a consultation. We may ask you to confirm your details or show an identity document.

Please take your consultation somewhere private. Tell your practitioner if another person is present with you, or with them, during the consultation. Your practitioner will let you know if anyone else, such as a supervising clinician or a trainee, is present on our side.

Telehealth is not suitable for every situation. If your practitioner decides that telehealth is not appropriate for your needs, they may recommend an in-person assessment, a review with your regular GP, a referral, further investigation, urgent care, or no treatment, depending on your circumstances.

My Health Record

My Health Record is a national online summary of your key health information, run by the Australian Government. We will only access or upload information to your My Health Record where the law allows and in line with your My Health Record settings and any access controls you have set. You can manage your own My Health Record, including your access settings, through the My Health Record system. We will tell you if accessing or contributing to your My Health Record is relevant to your care.

Overseas disclosure

We aim to store and process your information in Australia. Some of the service providers we use, such as software or cloud hosting providers, may store or process data outside Australia, or may be located overseas.

The categories of overseas recipients, and the countries where your information may be stored or processed, include: cloud hosting and infrastructure providers (United States), analytics and advertising platforms including Meta (United States), and email and communications providers (United States). Where we disclose your personal information overseas, we take reasonable steps to make sure it is handled in line with the Australian Privacy Principles. We will seek your consent before transferring your information overseas where consent is required.

How we keep your information secure

We store your information in a way that is designed to protect it from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We use measures such as access controls, secure systems and staff confidentiality obligations. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.

How long we keep your information

We keep your clinical records for the minimum period required by the health records law that applies to our practice. Under that law, we keep an adult patient's records for at least the legally required period, measured from the date of the last entry in your record, not from when your record was first created. For a patient who was a child at the time of the last entry, we keep records until that person turns 25, or for the legally required period, whichever is longer.

As a Queensland-based practice, our record retention obligations are governed by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles, and the professional standards and guidelines issued by the Medical Board of Australia and AHPRA. We retain adult patient clinical records for a minimum of seven years from the date of the last entry. For patients who were children at the time of the last entry, we retain records until the patient turns 25, or for seven years from the last entry, whichever is longer. When we no longer need to keep your information, and we are not required by law to retain it, we take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it securely.

Data breaches

We are covered by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme under Part IIIC of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). If we have reasonable grounds to believe an eligible data breach has happened, and it is likely to result in serious harm to any affected individual, we will notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the affected individuals as soon as practicable, and within the timeframes the scheme requires. The notice will set out what happened, the information involved, and the steps you can take to protect yourself.

Access and correction

You can ask to see the personal and health information we hold about you, and to have it corrected if it is wrong, out of date or incomplete. To make a request, contact us at [email protected].

We may need to confirm your identity before we release information. We do not charge a fee to make a request. We may charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of giving you access, such as copying or retrieval. In limited cases the law allows us to refuse access or correction. If we do, we will explain why in writing and tell you how to complain.

Complaints

If you have a concern about how we have handled your information, please contact us first at [email protected]. We will look into it and respond to you.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always available on our website, with the date it was last updated shown at the top of this page.