How many people read the fine print before agreeing to use an app? What about the fine print before you send your medical appointment booking?
In this case, the users allowed the app to share their personal medical information with marketing firms who then spam them with ads for law firms.
To make matters worse, the app asked for information that was not required, and could be viewed as being there purely to harvest for profit from marketing.
meltam 6554
Saw this warning posted on Facebook, and have a copy of it on my desktop so that once the 16.07.2018 comes around I will access my Gov Account and get rid of my medical records. For the Government to market this app, and then later decide to on sell the details is a despicable act. No happy, but at least I know I can opt out.
This is the HelathEngine privacy policy on their website:
https://healthengine.com.au/privacy.php[quote=“pforte, post:2, topic:15640”]
Saw this warning posted on Facebook, and have a copy of it on my desktop so that once the 16.07.2018 comes around I will access my Gov Account and get rid of my medical records.
[/quote]
This would only be an issue if one chose to install HealthEngine and one decided to store the same health records on HealthEngine as one has on MyGov website.
My understanding is the HEalthEngine app and MyGov website does not share data with one another, so the records on MyGov should be safe (even if one choses to use the HeathEngine app). One would somehow physically share the data (copy from MyGov and upload to HealthEngine for example).
I personally would rather one storage place (e.g. MyGov) rather than chosing to share my data with private organisations I have no experience or potentially trust in.
This has also been posted by HealthEngine on their website:
A message to our valued users and customers…
I’m writing to update you on our response to recent media reports about HealthEngine’s Practice Recognition System (PRS) and user data privacy.
Practice Recognition System
Until recently, positive patient feedback on medical practices has been published on the HealthEngine website through the PRS.
The PRS was intended to operate as a positive, aspirational, recognition system, where only the practices rated highest by the practice’s own patients appeared.
Media reports have suggested that HealthEngine may have misled users by removing negative comments from patient feedback under the PRS.
We take these claims very seriously. The trust of our users and customers is important to us and we want to be sure that users clearly understand the information they obtain from our site and that the operation of our PRS complies with all of our regulatory obligations.
That is why we have removed the published feedback component of the PRS from our website pending robust internal and external reviews.
By way of background, the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, as interpreted by the AHPRA Guidelines, prohibits the publication of any feedback containing reference to the identity of a specific health practitioner or patient or referring to the provision of clinical care services to the patient and that may represent a “testimonial”
Consistent with these aims, we edited some user feedback to seek to ensure that it complied with the National Law and AHPRA Guidelines and with our positive intentions for the PRS. While many of the edits were minor and required by law, it appears there were occasions when our editing went beyond what was required under our regulatory obligations.
In relation to published feedback, our process was to email all users to let them know that their feedback may have been edited. All the practice’s patient feedback, positive and negative, is provided back to the practice unedited.
Over the last three years, we have received very few complaints about the way we have edited published feedback.
Nevertheless, we are seeking to work with relevant regulators and will act decisively on the outcomes of the current reviews to ensure our processes meet best practice standards.
Data privacy
We respect the privacy of our users and appreciate the trust they place in us.
HealthEngine does not provide any personal information to third parties without the express consent of the affected user or in those circumstances described in our privacy policy.
If you have any feedback on how we could improve our services, we’d love to hear from you at feedback@healthengine.com.au
Sincerely,
Dr. Marcus Tan
Founder, CEO & Medical Director
phbriggs2000
Thank you for your comment. I did indeed confuse the app with the MyGov Website. I do not have the HealthEngine App, so I am no longer worrying.
Thank goodness for Choice community.
