Your privacy and maintaining the security of your personal information is important to Bupa. This policy outlines how Bupa handles the personal information of Providers (as defined below), including how we collect, store, use and disclose Provider personal information, how Providers can access and change their information, provide us with feedback, or make a complaint.

Definitions

In this document, 'we', 'us', 'our' and 'Bupa' refers to Bupa HI Pty Ltd (ABN 81 000 057 590) and its related entities. 'You' and 'your' refers to Providers and their personnel.

The additional terms below have the following meanings:

Admin User means your assigned Portal administrator, being personnel of the Provider or of the Billing Agent authorised to access the Portal.

Benefits means the amount we pay for a treatment covered by a Policy.

Billing Agent means a third party appointed by you to act on your behalf and authorised to access the Portal.

Bupa Group means Bupa and its related bodies corporate.

Claim means a claim for us to pay Benefits for a treatment a Customer receives under a Policy.

Consent means your permission. Your consent can be express or implied. Express consent can be written or verbal (e.g. when you give us your permission over the phone or in face-to-face conversations). Your consent will be implied when we can reasonably conclude that you have consented by either taking or not taking action.

Customer means a person who is insured under a Policy issued by us.

Fund Rules means the rules which govern our health insurance policies, available at bupa.com.au/terms-and-conditions, as amended from time to time.

Personal Information has the same meaning as it has under the Privacy Act, namely information or an opinion, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an identified or reasonably identifiable individual.

Policy means a Bupa health insurance policy.

Portal means the Bupa Partner Portal located at partnerlogin.bupa.com.au

Provider means any healthcare provider recognised and registered by Bupa for the purposes of paying benefits to Customers, including hospitals, medical practitioners, practices and ancillary providers.

Privacy Act means the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

Provider Agreement means any agreement between Bupa and a Provider that may apply to you, including without limitation our Ancillary Provider Terms, our Medical Gap Scheme Terms and Conditions and our Members First Rules of Participation.

Collection of your personal information

What kinds of personal information does Bupa collect?

The information we hold about you, depends on the type of Provider Agreement we have entered into with you and may include, where applicable:

  • your name, email address and contact details;
  • your practice address(es);
  • your provider number(s);
  • details of your professional registrations and memberships;
  • bank account details for claims payment purposes;
  • records of our interactions with you, such as system notes; and
  • online website usage data, for example when you browse our website(s).

How does Bupa collect personal information?

We may collect personal information from you in a range of ways, including when you:

  • enter into a Provider Agreement with us;
  • submit an expression of interest via our website;
  • submit a claim on behalf of a Customer (for example, by using HICAPS, HealthPoint or ECLIPSE);
  • register to use the Portal;
  • complete a form or otherwise provide information when completing the registration process for the Portal; and
  • contact us in person, by phone, email or online, or when we contact you in any of these ways.

Our preference is to collect your personal information directly from you. However, there may be instances where we will need to collect your information from others, including from:

  • your professional supervisory body or association;
  • your practice, where they manage or administer your registration as a Provider;
  • your authorised Billing Agent;
  • Admin Users;
  • regulatory bodies including Medicare, AHPRA or a National Board;
  • third parties that provide claiming services to Providers for the payment of qualifying goods and services, for example HICAPS or HealthPoint.

If you have provided us with information about another person, you need to ensure that you have that person's permission to do so and inform them that:

  • you have given us their information;
  • they have a right to access their information; and
  • they can refer to this document for information on how Bupa will handle their personal information.

If you do not provide us with your personal information

If you do not provide us with the personal information we reasonably require, depending on the circumstances, we may be unable to register you as a Provider, pay claims for services you provide to our Customers or provide you with access to the Portal.

Use and disclosure of your personal information

How does Bupa use your personal information?

We use your personal information to register you as a Provider, administer our relationship with you and to assess and administer claims for services you provide to our Customers, in accordance with our Fund Rules. In doing so, we may use your information to:

  • process your registration for the Portal;
  • administer and comply with the terms of any Provider Agreement;
  • contact you about any matter relating to Bupa's relationship with you including administrative matters and any matter relating to the Portal;
  • investigate, assess and pay claims;
  • conduct risk management and assurance activities, including to ensure that claimed services are provided to Customers in accordance with the Fund Rules, any Provider Agreements and the law;
  • carry out internal functions, including administration, training, accounting, audit and information technology;
  • practice effective risk management and prevent fraud by conducting claims audits and analysis of claims;
  • monitor, price and evaluate products and services;
  • answer your enquiries and resolve complaints;
  • conduct market research and data analytics;
  • contact you to undertake surveys and request feedback;
  • contact you to advise you of professional development events and promotional material that may be of interest to you; 
  • fulfil marketing campaigns in respect of Customers; and
  • comply with laws and regulations.

Marketing and communication

We may contact you (via post, email, phone or other means that become available from time to time) to tell you about products, services, events, programs and surveys that may be of interest to you and other personnel at your practice. This may relate to products, services, events or programs offered by us, our related entities or our third party partners.

We may share your personal information with members of the Bupa Group and business partners, so that they may promote, offer and/or provide products and services to you.

We will use your personal information to tailor the material we provide to ensure that our communication with you is relevant to your practice and circumstances.

When we obtain your contact details, we will use your personal information for these purposes. If you do not wish to receive marketing material from us, you can opt out at any time by contacting us (our contact details are at the end of this policy). In some instances, you can opt out when we communicate with you (for example, by unsubscribing from certain types of emails you receive using the link in the email you receive).

If you request not to receive marketing material, please note that we will still contact you in relation to our ongoing relationship with you. For example, we will still send you important information that is relevant to healthcare providers.

Who does Bupa disclose your personal information to?

We may disclose your information to other members of the Bupa Group and handle it in any State or Territory where we operate.

In addition, to help us provide, manage and administer our products and services and operate an efficient and sustainable business, we may need to disclose your information to third parties. This may include disclosing your information:

  • to anyone engaged by us or acting on our behalf in relation to our business, such as service providers/suppliers;
  • to industry bodies, Bupa accredited associations, government and regulatory bodies, including Medicare, AHPRA, a relevant National Board or relevant healthcare complaints regulator, the Department of Health and the Commonwealth Ombudsman;
  • to lawyers, auditors and other advisors or investigators appointed by us or acting on our behalf;
  • to your practice or anyone acting on your behalf, such as your Billing Agent; and
  • where disclosure is permitted or required by law, including in response to compulsory notices from courts of law, tribunals or government agencies.

Some of our suppliers and related entities may be located or may process data outside of Australia, including in the United Kingdom, India and the United States of America. If we send your information outside of Australia, we require the recipient of the information to comply with relevant privacy laws.

Accessing and correcting your personal information

Can I access my personal information?

You can ask us for access to the information we hold about you at any time. Simply contact us (see contact details below) to make your request. We will aim to meet your request within a reasonable time and in the manner requested by you if it is reasonable to do so. In some circumstances, we may not be able to give you access in accordance with the Privacy Act, such as where:

  • we no longer hold the information;
  • providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
  • the request is frivolous or vexatious;
  • the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings and would not normally be disclosed as part of those proceedings;
  • providing access would be unlawful;
  • denying access is required by law;
  • providing access would be likely to prejudice the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of possible unlawful activity;
  • the information would reveal our commercially sensitive decision-making process; and
  • where access would pose a threat to the life or health of any individual.

If we are unable to give you access to the information you have requested, we will write to you with the reasons for our decision.

We may charge you a reasonable fee for our costs in retrieving certain types of information for you. This charge will be limited to the cost of recouping our costs for providing you with the information, such as the costs of document retrieval, photocopying, labour and postal delivery (if applicable). We will not charge you for making a request for access to your information.

Call recordings

We may, on your request and at a mutually suitable time, arrange for you to listen to a recording of a call you've had with our call centre. In some circumstances we may elect to give you transcripts of calls.

Correcting your personal information

To enable us to provide you and our Customers with the best possible service, it is important that the information we hold about you is complete and accurate.

You have a right to request that we correct the information we hold about you and you can do so by contacting us or by following the change of details process applicable to you as outlined at bupa.com.au/for-providers

It is your responsibility to notify us if your details change or you believe that any information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period and take reasonable steps to amend your records.

In some circumstances we may decline to amend your records. If we decline, we will provide you with written reasons.

Your privacy online

Cookies and other analytics tools

Our websites use "cookies" and similar online behavioural tracking technologies. Cookies are small text files placed on your computer by a web server when you access a website. We use cookies to collect data about which web pages are most popular, peak usage times, websites you have visited and other information that helps us make our websites more helpful and easier to use.

Cookies are designed to identify computers rather than individual users. We may, however, use them to help personalise your visit to our websites by linking the cookie on your computer to your personal information stored on our system.

You can choose if and how to accept cookies by configuring the preferences and options in your web browser. For example, you can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie or to reject cookies. If you decide not to accept cookies, however, you may not be able to gain access to all the content and functions of our websites.

We may also use products offered by third parties such as Google and Adobe to undertake activities such as website analytics, email campaign management and online behavioural advertising.

You can visit youronlinechoices.com.au for more information about how to opt out of certain behavioural advertising and for further information about how these tools work.

Contacting Bupa

Your feedback

If you have any questions, feedback or concerns about this policy or how we handle your information, you may contact us at any time by calling us on 1800 060 239.

You may also contact us by email or post correspondence to 33 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000 Australia.

Bupa will investigate your concerns and manage your complaint directly with you.

When working with you to resolve your complaint, we will keep you updated on the progress of your complaint.

If you are not happy with Bupa's response, or if you do not feel your complaint has been resolved, you may seek advice from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by calling 1300 363 992 or visiting oaic.gov.au.