Correction of health information

Correction of health information

• Your practice should correct health information it holds about patients if:
  • your practice deems that information is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading
  • a patient requests it to do so. 
• It is important to verify the requesting person’s identity.
• Correction requests must be actioned within a reasonable period.
• Refusals must be communicated in writing with reasons and the process for lodging a complaint.
• Your practice must notify affected third parties of the corrected information.

Create a policy: Correction of health information

It is recommended for your practice to implement procedures regulating the management of requests for health information correction. These might be incorporated into the practice’s privacy policy.

• The rights concerning correction differ to those for access.
• Policies should instead outline a practical approach to addressing the requests rather than having patients request correction via a particular procedure or using a form.