Protecting your information
We take the privacy and security of our members’ information very seriously.
In the age of technology in which we live, cyber-attacks are unfortunately becoming more common and increasingly sophisticated. This means cyber security awareness and education is more important than ever.
How we proactively protect your information
Doctors’ Health Fund, as part of the Avant group of companies, has strict governance and risk frameworks, policies and systems in place to protect your data, ensuring we meet our obligations under privacy and data protection laws, standards and regulations. Some of the ways we proactively protect your information include:
- 24/7 security monitoring of the Avant systems landscape.
- Annual audits to test the effectiveness of the security controls.
- Use of industry leading technologies to create an external defence.
- Regular external and internal cyber testing of systems.
- Annual cyber security compliance training for staff.
- Security management of vendors.
- Regular reviews of the types of data stored and for how long.
As the cyber landscape is constantly evolving, we are always on high alert to secure and protect your data.
How we handle your information
We handle your personal and sensitive information in accordance with our Privacy Policy, which adheres to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. This privacy policy outlines how we collect, use, hold and disclose your personal information.
We collect personal information from you so that we can provide the products and services that you request of us. We will notify you of the way that we use your personal information.
You can learn more about how we collect and use your information by reading our Privacy Policy.
How we will contact you
We will contact you where necessary, such as to provide important policy information or member material such as our newsletter, using your preferred contact details. Therefore, it’s important to always keep this information up to date. Any marketing material you receive from us will include an unsubscribe option.
Identification checks are performed with every phone call before any policy information is disclosed. These checks are to ensure we are speaking to the member, or another person who is on the policy or an individual who is authorised to access policy information. These are important checks to ensure the privacy and protection of your personal information and policy details.
Doctors’ Health Fund will never ask you to provide information such as banking details or passwords by email.
If you become suspicious of a message from Doctors’ Health Fund, end the interaction immediately and contact us on 1800 226 126. We need your help as well to keep your information secure.
What you can do to protect your information
Help us to protect your information by practicing habits that strengthen the safety of your personal and health information:
- Keep your devices secure with up-to-date anti-virus software and firewalls.
- Don’t provide your credit card information or transfer money to anyone you don’t know or trust.
- Always lock your devices when not in use.
- Always log out of accounts and apps when you are finished using them.
- Don’t share your passwords with anyone else.
- Review your passwords from time to time and choose passwords or passphrases that are new and at least eight characters in length, with a combination of upper and lower case, numbers and symbols.
- Use multi-factor authentication when it is available – you can now enable this on your Online Member Services account and our new app.
While this list of measures is in no way comprehensive, implementing these basic practices can help to protect your data. More information on how to identify and report a scam, the types of scams and other tools and resources can be found at scamwatch.gov.au
Do you own a practice?
Maintaining data security and meeting your privacy legislation obligations for your practice is critically important, especially in this current climate. Read more on how to protect your practice from data and privacy breaches.
IMPORTANT: This publication is not comprehensive and does not constitute legal or other professional advice. You should seek legal or other professional advice before relying on any content. Persons implementing any recommendations contained in this publication must exercise their own independent skill or judgement or seek appropriate professional advice relevant to their own particular situation. Avant is not responsible to you or anyone else for any loss suffered in connection with the use of this information. Information is only current at the date initially published.
