Privacy Policy 1 — Bloom Family Practice

Cancellations

We require 24 hours notice for cancelled appointments, to allow sufficient time to offer the appointment to another patient seeking medical care. If you miss an appointment or cancel with insufficient notice, you will be billed for the missed appointment. This is done to reduce the financial and time losses of the clinic.

Late Arrivals

We do our best to run on time and late arrivals make this difficult. If you arrive late for your appointment time, you may not be seen. At the physician’s discretion, if times allows, you may be offered the opportunity to wait to be seen. Otherwise, you will need to rebook your appointment.

Introductory Appointments (New Patients)

All new prospective patients of the clinic will need to book an Introductory Appointment. This appointment takes 30 minutes and is necessary to meet the Physician, review Clinic Policies with you, open a chart, review your medical history and answer any questions you may have about our clinic. Medical issues will not be addressed at this appointment and no prescriptions will be provided. If you have medical issues that require attention, please do not wait for your Introductory Appointment. You should see your current Physician or seek care at a walk in clinic and/or emergency department as needed.

For more information about Introductory Appointments, please visit the New Patients section on our website (coming soon!).

Missed Appointments

We recognize that the number of requested appointments at a Family Physician’s office is at an all time high. By not attending an appointment, you cause significant delays to other patients seeking medical care, increase the administrative work for our staff and ultimately disrupt the flow of our clinic.

As such, we have a strict no show policy. We require 24 hours cancellation notice and if this is not adhered to, you will be required to pay a Missed Appointment Fee. If you feel there are extenuating circumstances leading to the missed appointment, please discuss this with your Physician.

Preventative Care Visit

A Preventative Care Visit is a 15 to 30 minute appointment that is booked specifically to discuss health maintenance, appropriate screening tests and review of pertinent immunizations. The appointments generally consist of a physician assessment of your medical history, medications, personal risk factors, lifestyle and family history and discussion of preventative care measures if applicable. A focused physical exam may or may not be performed depending on the assessment. These appointments are generally recommended every 1 to 3 years after the age of 40. Patients are advised not to “save up” issues for this appointment. If you have specific health concerns an appointment should be booked to discuss that separately.

Routine Appointments

All routine appointments are scheduled for 15 minutes. We aim to run on time so in order to allow for an adequate amount of time to assess and address each concern we ask that you limit the number of issues per visit to 1 or 2 (including prescription refills). If you have multiple concerns, your physician may ask you to book a follow-up appointment.

When booking an appointment via the telephone, our staff will ask and document the reason for the appointment. In order to ensure they are capturing your concern and are triaging your appointment appropriately, you may be asked additional questions. All of our staff have received training in PHIPA (Personal Health Information Protection Act) and make every effort to protect confidentiality.

When booking an appointment online via our Patient Portal, please write in the space provided your reason for the appointment.

Same Day Appointments

All of our physicians reserve a number of appointments that only become available at 8 am that day. These are ideally meant for single, urgent issues such as sore throat or urinary tract infections.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Collaboration

We are happy and willing to collaborate with complementary and alternative healthcare providers such as physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, naturopaths etc., who you wish to engage with for your health. This includes sharing information regarding your medical history and/or test results provided you have given consent. Depending on the amount of information requested by your alternative health provider there may be an associated chart transfer fee, as set out in the Uninsured Services.

As the care provided by these complementary and alternative providers are not OHIP-covered, you should also be prepared to pay for any investigations they wish to order. We will not order investigations, including blood work, on their benefit or at their request unless the tests are part of your routine screening, are evidence-based and/or within our scope of practice to investigate for a specific issue.

Forms, Letters and/or Insurance Requests

You may request your physician complete a form, letter, work place or insurance certificate. If medically appropriate, the clinic staff and/or physician will advise you of the fee. Your physician will then work to complete the request as soon as possible. The length of time for completion may vary with the length and complexity of the request. As mandated by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the physicians will complete and submit all third party forms and reports within 60 days of receipt.

Investigations (Blood work, Urine and/or Imaging)

We believe that investigations such as blood tests, urine tests and imaging (X-rays, ultrasounds, CT, MRI etc.) should be ordered when medically indicated, evidence based and are within your physician’s scope of practice to order and interpret. Investigation may be requested by your physician to confirm a diagnosis, guide treatment and/or monitor treatment. There are times however, that your care can be managed with minimal investigations. Some investigations are also part of routine screening as recommended by Cancer Care Ontario.

We also aim to be mindful of appropriate use of healthcare resources where relevant and avoid unnecessary investigations. We recognize that unnecessary investigations may lead to incidental findings, requiring further unnecessary testing and potentially harm to a patient’s wellbeing.

Ontario Health Cards

Your health care at the clinic is paid for via your health card whether you are scheduling an in-person, telephone or video appointment. A valid provincial health card (Ontario or otherwise) is required at every appointment. You will be asked to present it at every appointment. If you do not have your valid health card to present for payment, you will be personally charged for the appointment.

Patient Privacy and Confidentiality

Bloom Family Practice is governed by the Ontario Personal Health Information Protect Act (PHIPA) together with its regulations. PHIPA is the "Ontario law that governs the collection, use and disclosure of personal health information within the health sector. The object is to keep personal health information confidential and secure, while allowing for the effective delivery of health care." (source).

At Bloom Family Practice, our physicians and staff take reasonable and appropriate measures to ensure the practical protection of all of our patients’ personal health information and continue to work diligently to ensure compliance with the provisions and spirit of PHIPA.

If you have questions, concerns, or complaints regarding Bloom Family Practice's handling of personal health information please address it directly with your Physician and/or a clinic staff. Lastly, while we prefer that issues be raised directly with us first, if you have a complaint regarding our conduct you may direct it to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario at https://www.ipc.on.ca/.

Patient Communication Policy

While the telephone has long been used as the primary source of communication between patient and clinics we value and recognize that your time and our time is important. We want to avoid the cycle of patients being put on hold for extended periods of time, dropped calls, multiple voice messages, and more importantly we want to prevent and avoid medical errors or compromised care as a result of misunderstandings or communication errors over the phone. We also recognize that there are confidentiality concerns with leaving voicemails as well as concerns around confirming identity of individuals over the phone.

Bloom Family Practice is committed to enhancing the reliability and accuracy of communication between patients and the clinic and we feel that the best way moving forward is to utilize our Patient Portal for more written communications.

For patients, this means we may initiate secure web messaging via the Patient Portal when appropriate instead of trying to reach you via the telephone. You may also be asked to provide us with information, documents and/or photos over the Patient Portal in preparation for a scheduled appointment or potentially in lieu of scheduling an appointment.

We also intend to utilize the Patient Portal for mass communication regarding clinic updates. Please be certain that you are registered with our Patient Portal and that you inform us of any email address changes.

To be clear, our telephone lines remain open and your calls and voice messages will be received.

Patient Portal Policy

Our Patient Portal (Pomelo) is a secure web portal that allows all patients to do online appointment scheduling. The Patient Portal is also a way for our clinic to reach out to patients with appointment reminders, completed forms, lab and/or imaging requisitions, and to notify you of important clinic updates.

The Patient Portal is compliant with PHIPA. The cost of purchasing, implementing and maintaining the Patient Portal is not funded by the Ministry of Health but is completely funded by your physicians as we feel it is integral to enhancing your access to care.

We encourage patients to use secure passwords and change their passwords regularly. We also strongly encourage patients not to share their passwords with others, or to allow others to access their Patient Portal.

For parents with children under the age of 16, you can request that the clinic link the Patient Portal accounts so that you can utilize the Patient Portal on behalf of your child. For those with senior family members who may struggle with the Patient Portal, account linking can also be arranged as long as we have received written or verbal consent from the patient giving consent to disclose information and permission for their family member to have access.

Patient Portal Two-Way Messaging

***As of April 1, 2023, this feature will no longer be available or included as part of the Block Fee. For those who subscribed to the Block Fee prior to this, we will continue to honour messaging for 365 days from date of your subscription purchase. ***

We remind patients who still have access to this feature that this messaging service is NOT meant for urgent medical questions and/or concerns as it can take up to 2 business days for you to receive a response.

Our clinic will continue to use the Patient Portal to initiate communication with patients when appropriate and/or necessary but Patient-Initiated two-way messaging will no longer be available.

Physician Switching Policy

Switching to another Physician in the clinic or within the Bedford Family Health Organization (FHO) is NOT allowed. We have set this policy for the following reasons:

All of our Physicians are fully qualified to provide primary care.
Our Physicians work collaboratively and all practice evidence based medicine so are unlikely to offer a different opinion from their colleagues.
All Physicians rotate as the Physician on-call, as such, switching Physicians does not eliminate the possibility that you and the Physician would not interact again. This has the potential to result in sub-optimal care that will not benefit you as a patient.

This policy in no way prevents patients from having access to, and receiving care from a Physician. We are fortunate to be located in downtown Toronto with many surrounding clinics so patients are welcome to transfer their care to a different clinic that would better suit their needs.

Prescription Renewals by Telephone/Fax

Prescription renewals without an appointment is an Uninsured Service and is subject to a $30 charge. Telephone/fax renewals require time from your Physician to review your chart to ensure a medication renewal is appropriate, as well as time to send the prescription to the pharmacy. If you choose to pay the fee, please remember to allow 3 business days for prescriptions to be sent to the pharmacy.

If you prefer to book an appointment for a renewal then we recommend you contact the clinic 7-10 business days prior to your prescriptions running out to book an appointment. It is a patient's responsibility to monitor their prescriptions and contact the clinic for an appointment or telephone/fax renewal well in advance of prescriptions running out.

It is our clinic policy that only existing/current prescriptions are eligible for telephone/fax renewal; new medications, or dose changes require appointments. There may also be times when your Physician requires an appointment prior to re-prescribing a medication.

Narcotics, sedatives and antibiotics are NEVER renewed by telephone/fax and require an appointment. These medications are also only to be renewed by your primary Physician.

If you do not wish your pharmacy to send requests to your Physician without your permission, please speak to your pharmacist.

Scent Free Policy

We recognize that our team and/or patients at the clinic may have allergies or sensitivities to scents. We ask that you please refrain from wearing perfume, cologne and/or other strongly scented products when coming to the clinic. Thank you for your cooperation.

Specialists Referrals

For a patient-initiated requests to a specialist, an appointment with their primary Physician must first take place. The purpose of this appointment is to gather information and potentially order investigations to facilitate a faster and more effective consultation with a specialist. Your Physician will also identify the most appropriate specialist for your concern and also set an expectation as to the urgency of the request. Sometimes a referral may not be necessary as your Physician may be able to manage your concern directly.

Due to the volume of patients and referrals ongoing at our clinic, we ask that you be patient and wait to be contacted regarding appointment details. Wait-times for specialists can vary anywhere from weeks to months.

Test Results

Due to the volume of results received in the clinic on a daily basis, it is not possible to communicate all normal results to each patient. You will be informed of significant abnormal results and, if required, a follow-up appointment will be schedule.

If you leave a message on the telephone requesting test results, please be advised if the result is normal the clinic may take up to 2 business days to process and return your request. Please ensure that you are registered on our Patient Portal as the clinic may simply message you there to inform you of the results if normal.

Travel Medicine

Appointments that are exclusively regarding Travel Medicine Advice (eg. regarding vaccinations, prophylactic treatments etc.) are not covered by OHIP and are subject to the fees set out in the Uninsured Services.

Since travel advice can be quite specific depending on the area, type and duration of travel, if your Physician is comfortable providing such advice and care, an appointment will be booked. If your Physician feels this is out of their scope of practice and is unable to provide travel advice, you will be recommended to visit a local travel medicine clinic.

Uninsured Services

Please take a moment to review our Uninsured Services policy. These fees must be paid at the time of service or prior to your next visit with your Physician. Payment can be made directly via this website at Pay Online.

Zero Tolerance Policy

We work hard to ensure you feel respected and welcomed at our clinic. We expect the same when it comes to treatment of our team from you.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act R.S.O. 1990, states that all workplaces have an obligation to keep staff safe from workplace violence and harassment, including verbal abuse and/or harassment.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario Policy Number:#2-17 stipulates a Physician may end the patient-physician relationship if a patient engages in behaviour which significantly disrupts the practice, including abusive or threatening language; or where patient poses a risk of harm to the Physician, staff, colleagues and/or other patients.

Our clinic has a strict zero tolerance policy, all forms of inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated whether in person, by telephone, in writing or by voicemail. This means that if a member of the Bloom Family Practice Team observes or is subject to harassment, threats, discrimination, racism, disrespectful, demeaning, violent, abusive behaviour and/or language the offending individual will be immediately removed and discharged from the clinic and Physician’s practice.