Your information, handled carefully.

1. Who is responsible

Dr. Justin Khetani is the health information custodian of the clinical records kept by his practice at 1435 Plains Road East, Unit 5, Burlington, Ontario, and is responsible for this website. Members of the office team act as his agents and are bound by the same obligations. Questions, requests and complaints about privacy go to the office, which directs them to the person responsible for privacy at the practice.

Office: (905) 639-2244 · 1435 Plains Rd E, Unit 5, Burlington, ON L7R 3P9.

2. What this policy covers

Three things: this website and the information you send through it; telephone contact with the office, including the AI telephone assistant that answers calls; and the personal health information collected in the course of your care. Cosmetic and non-surgical services provided under the name Khetani Medical Aesthetics are part of the same practice and are covered by the same policy.

3. This website

Cookies, analytics and tracking

This website sets no cookies of its own and uses no advertising trackers or third-party cookies. Fonts, images and scripts are served from the site itself, so browsing these pages does not send information about you to other companies.

Server logs

Like any website, the server that delivers these pages records the address your device uses to connect (its IP address), the pages requested, the time, and the browser type. These logs are used to keep the site secure and working, are not combined with any clinical record, and are kept by the hosting provider for a limited period before they are deleted.

Services you choose to use

The map on the contact page is a drawn illustration, not an embedded map service. Clicking "Open in Google Maps", or the link to the practice's Google listing and reviews, is your choice; only then does a request go to Google, whose own privacy policy applies. Videos on the procedure pages are hosted on YouTube or Vimeo: nothing is loaded from those services until you press play, and when you do, the player is requested in its privacy-enhanced mode. The Instagram section on the home page shows copies of the practice's posts served from this site; only clicking a post takes you to Instagram. Links to other organisations' websites, such as the national patient resources on the patient-information page, lead to sites this practice does not control.

4. The forms on this website

The consultation request form asks only for what is needed to return your call: your name, telephone number, email address, the general reason for your enquiry, and when you prefer to be contacted. The clinical-trials interest form asks the same, plus the general nature of your diagnosis. The feedback box at the foot of each page asks for a note and, optionally, an email address if you would like a reply.

Please do not include symptoms, diagnoses or other health details in any of these forms. Those are discussed privately at your consultation, where they can be recorded properly in your clinical record.

What you send through a form is used only to respond to you, is handled in the same way as a telephone message taken by the office, and becomes part of the practice's administrative records. When a form is processed by a service provider on the practice's behalf, that provider is bound by a written agreement to use the information only for that purpose and to protect it to the standard PHIPA requires.

Preview build: this website is currently a preview. The forms are not connected to a live processing system, and nothing entered into them is transmitted or stored. Before launch, each will either be connected to a processor appropriate for health-sector use in Ontario, and this section updated to name it, or removed in favour of telephone contact.

5. Telephone calls and the AI assistant

Calls to the office are answered by an AI telephone assistant (Phelix), a service built for medical offices, which takes the details you give so that the office team can act on them and return your call. What you tell it is used for that purpose only, becomes part of the office's records in the same way as a message taken by a receptionist, and is handled under PHIPA. The provider of the service acts under an agreement that restricts its use of the information to providing the service. You can ask at any time to speak with a person, and you may prefer not to give health details to the assistant and to raise them with the office team instead.

Ordinary email and text messages are not secure channels. Please avoid sending health information by email; use the telephone, or raise it at your appointment.

6. Personal health information in your care

What is collected

When you are referred to or treated by the practice, personal health information is collected: your identity and contact details, your health card number, the referral and the reason for it, your history, examination findings, images from nasal endoscopy and imaging, clinical photographs, test results, treatment plans, operative and follow-up notes, and correspondence with other members of your care team. It is collected directly from you wherever possible, and from your referring physician, hospitals and laboratories involved in your care.

Why, and on what basis

The practice collects, uses and shares this information to assess and treat you, to communicate with the other clinicians involved in your care (your referring physician or nurse practitioner, hospitals, laboratories and imaging departments), to arrange surgery, to bill the Ontario Health Insurance Plan or you for services, and to meet its legal and professional obligations. Within this circle of care the law permits the practice to rely on your implied consent, which you may limit or withdraw by telling the office, subject to the exceptions PHIPA sets out. Any other use, including publication of clinical photographs, participation in research, or contact with anyone outside your circle of care, requires your express consent.

Clinical photographs

Photographs taken for surgical planning are part of your record and are stored securely with it. They are never published, shown to other patients, or used in teaching without your separate written consent, which is asked for as its own decision, never as a condition of care, and which you may withdraw at any time.

Research

The practice takes part in clinical research. Your information is used for research only with your written informed consent to a specific study approved by a research ethics board, or, where the law permits, in a form from which you cannot be identified. Declining research never affects your care.

Disclosures required by law

In limited circumstances the practice must disclose information without consent: where a law requires it (for example mandatory reporting duties), to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in the course of its regulatory work, or in response to a court order or warrant. Only the information required is disclosed.

How it is protected

Records are kept in a secure electronic medical record system with access limited to the staff who need it for your care, protected by individual credentials, encryption and audit logs, and in locked premises for any paper records. Staff are trained in privacy and sign confidentiality agreements. Service providers who handle information on the practice's behalf are bound by written agreements. If a privacy breach occurs that affects you, you will be notified as PHIPA requires, and the Information and Privacy Commissioner is notified where the law requires it.

How long it is kept

Clinical records are retained for at least the period the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario requires of physicians: ten years from the date of the last entry, or, for a patient who was a minor, ten years after the day the patient turned eighteen. Records are then securely destroyed. Website form submissions and telephone messages that do not become part of a clinical record are kept only as long as they are needed to respond to you.

7. Your rights

You have the right to ask what information the practice holds about you, to request access to your record, and to ask that inaccurate or incomplete information be corrected. Requests can be made in writing to the office, which will respond within the time PHIPA allows, generally thirty days, and will explain any reason a request cannot be fully met. A reasonable fee may apply to copying, and you will be told of it before it is charged. You may also withdraw or limit consent to the sharing of your information within your circle of care, and the office will explain any consequences for your care.

8. How to raise a concern or complain

Please raise any concern with the office first, by telephone at (905) 639-2244 or in writing to the address above. Most concerns can be resolved directly. If you are not satisfied, you have the right to complain to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, which oversees PHIPA: www.ipc.on.ca · 1-800-387-0073 · 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8.

9. Changes to this policy

This policy is reviewed when the practice's services or the law change, and at least once a year. The current version and its effective date are shown at the top of this page; material changes are noted here.

10. Related pages

Accessibility statement · What happens at consultation, including photographs · Clinical trials and research · How calls are handled.