Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Massage Experts recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of your personal information.  We are committed to protecting any personal information we hold and have an obligation to keep confidential all information by which you can be identified.  Our Privacy Policy outlines how we manage your personal information and safeguard your privacy. We ensure all our locations are trained and abide by the most secure practices possible within our industry, however your privacy and security are ultimately the responsibility of each of the Franchisees of each Massage Experts locations.

Your privacy rights:

We are responsible for the personal information we collect and hold.  To ensure this, we have developed this policy, and trained our representatives about our policies and practices.

Why do we ask for your personal information?

  1. Similar to other wellness-based professions, our clinics provide services to a wide range of clients with various health conditions. In order to safely provide you with best and most knowledgeable massage treatment possible, we must collect information about our clients. This information helps us know where the client is in their current physical condition. It also helps us to provide a treatment plan to help our clients achieve their optimal health goals.
  2. Where applicable, every Registered Massage Therapist is part of their Provincially-recognized regulating body. Their massage therapy “college and/or association”. These Provincial regulatory bodies have the right at any time to audit clinical notes and interview staff as a part of their regulatory activities in the public interest. This ensures your safe treatment by a massage therapy provider.
  3. Information also at any time may be required by your own insurance company. This can be through motor vehicle claims or standard group insurance providers. These third-party companies which pay for your services have the right to ensure proper care is being offered to warrant the massage therapy claim. These companies will either have your direct consent for receiving the personal and health information from Massage Experts or will have legal authority to receive the information. NOTE: Claims processed through third-party operator, Telus Health, will require you to sign a consent form at your local Massage Experts clinic location, prior to being eligible for direct billing through them. They reserve the right to audit files at their discretion. For a list of current companies which process claims through Telus Health, please click HERE, or visit www.telushealth.co.

What personal information do we collect?

Personal information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be deduced.  Depending on the services you request of us, the information we request will include some or all of the following: your name, contact information, date of birth, insurance company, type of employment, information regarding your health and medical history.  We need this information in order to provide the best service possible to our clients. In addition to the above, we also keep on file transaction and purchase history, along with clinical notes which are taken by the Registered Massage Therapist upon each visit.

Please note that your personal information is a different entity than your business information. At this time, your business information is not protected by Canada’s privacy legislation. This can include your business title, business address, telephone number or any email addresses that are collected, used or disclosed solely for the purpose of communicating with you in relation to your employment or profession.

How do we collect your personal information?

We collect information only by lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive way.  Wherever possible, we collect your personal information directly from you.

Sometimes we obtain information about you from other sources which, depending on the type of services we provide to you, may include:

  1. Your insurance company;
  2. Your doctor or other health care provider; and
  3. Government agencies or registries.

Our technology:

Massage Experts does not use proprietary technology to manage their business and its functions. We work with World-renown leaders in cloud-based systems and security. Booker Software, booker.com, is used to help manage most aspects of our business. Booker.com runs on a cloud-based, enterprise-class, fully redundant infrastructure, supplemented by partnerships with world-class third-party technology providers. They are a high-performance, full-service platform that is safe and reliable and that complies with PCI and current security standards. When booking your appointment online, we only collect the basic personal information necessary to provide the service in which you have requested.

Other secondary technology companies can include, but may not be limited to:

  1. Telus Health for insurance claim processing;
  2. Blue Cross and Greenshield, for insurance claim processing;
  3. Frederick, a marketing automation software division of Booker Software;
  4. SOAP Vault, a clinic-optional tool for Massage Therapists to create clinical notes online;
  5. DropBox, which is a way for our organization to store items safely in the cloud, to cater to the standards of clinical information being held for 7-10 years, varying by Province.

In the event that an act has caused the release of sensitive information through one of our technology providers, we will inform you immediately and work with that provider to ensure all safeguards are met to lessen any potential exposure.

Consent:

By requesting one of our services, you are consenting to our collecting, using and disclosing the information referred to in this document.  In some cases we require additional consent from you.

Use of your information:

We use your personal information to provide advice and wellness services to you, and, from time to time, to provide you with information about our services.  If you tell us that you no longer wish to receive information about our services, we will remove you from our mailing lists. Please allow 2-4 weeks to process your request.

Cookies and other tracking mechanisms:

MassageExperts.ca uses cookies and other tracking mechanisms to track information about your use of our website. This enables us to understand how to better serve you with future technology upgrades. We do not collect any personally identifiable information when browsing our site. As most businesses do, we utilize automated devices and applications, such as Google Analytics, to evaluate usage of the Website.

Opt-out policy

Massage Experts technology users can change their opt-in or opt-out status in several ways:
Corporate Newsletter: click on the “unsubscribe” link within the email.
Local Newsletter: Click on the “unsubscribe” link within the email.
Text: Reply to our text and type back “STOP” for stop.

For a phone or email direct response for your request to opt-out, please contact your local Massage Experts clinic directly. Should you not receive timely or sufficient response, you may also unsubscribe by sending your request to corporate@massageexperts.ca. Please allow 2-4 weeks to process your request.

Disclosure of your personal information:

We do not disclose your personal information to any third parties to enable them to market their products and services.  We are required, however, to disclose information to certain governing organizations and to your insurer in order to obtain payment of our account.  In addition, we will disclose your personal information when:

  1. Required or authorized by law to do so;
  2. You have consented to the disclosure;
  3. Necessary in order to establish or collect sums owing to us;
  4. When certain types of abuse are suspected;
  5. To reduce a significant risk of serious bodily harm to a person or the public
  6. We engage a third party to provide administrative services to us, such as computer back-up services or archival file storage; and
  7. The information is already publicly known.

We also disclose your personal information to third parties in order to facilitate the provision of health care services, should the request meet items 1-7 in our “Disclosure of your personal information” list.  By way of example, with your consent, we will disclose your file notes to your requested medical practitioner.

Retention of your personal information:

Normally, we keep records about our clients for seven to ten years after you advise us that you will no longer be using our services.  This allows us to respond to enquiries from your health care providers in a timely and efficient manner, and to meet our obligations to both any regulatory bodies and to Canada Revenue Agency.

Updating your information:

Since we use your personal information to provide services to you, it is important that the information be accurate and up-to-date.  If during the course of our dealings, any of your information changes, please inform us so that we can make any necessary changes.

Is my personal information secure?

We take all reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. Among the steps taken to protect your information are:

  1. Security of our premises;
  2. Security of our file storage systems;
  3. Restricted access to personal information;
  4. Deploying technological safeguards like security software and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access;
  5. Internal password and security policies;
  6. Choosing a technology system which safeguards to the highest compliance, your information and history with our business.

Communicating with you:

You may provide us with instructions with respect to your preferred method of communication.  Normally, we communicate with our clients by telephone, email or text.  There are always concerns about the security of electronic communications.  We must rely on you to provide us with a secure email address or text number in order to ensure that your information remains confidential. By using one of these methods of communication technology, you acknowledge that the technology is not secured unless otherwise noted.

Access to your personal information:

You may ask for access to any personal information we hold about you. To access your personal file, please send a written request to the Franchisee of the Massage Experts location where your file is located. All written requests will be responded to within a practical time frame. If for any reason access to your personal history is not granted, you will be provided with a written explanation. Prior to gaining access to this information, we will need to confirm your identity. Massage Experts reserves the right to charge a nominal fee for such requests.

Denial of access to personal information:

Your right to access your personal information is not absolute.  We may deny access when:

  1. Denial is required or authorized by law;
  2. Granting access would have an unreasonable impact on another person’s privacy;
  3. It is necessary to protect our rights and property;
  4. Where the request is frivolous or vexatious.

If we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct information, we will explain why.

Changes to this Privacy Policy:

This policy is made under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). We will review and update this Statement periodically. If changes are made to this Statement, we will post a notice of such changes prior to implementing the changes. Please review this privacy policy frequently to remain informed of Massage Experts’ information practices.

This Privacy Statement is effective as of October 25, 2018.

Requests for access and how to contact Massage Experts:

If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information, please write to our Information Officer at:

HS Massage Experts Corporation
1550-16th Avenue, Building D
Richmond Hill, Ontario
L4B 3K9

Or Email, corporate@massageexperts.ca.

If you believe there is a mistake in your personal information, you have the right to ask for it to be corrected. You must make this request in writing, stating specifically what in your record is incorrect or incomplete.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact:

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada
1(800)-282-1376

Concerns, Comments, Complaints:

If you have feedback about HS Massage Experts Corporation, or one of its Franchised Massage Experts’ locations, we would ask that you contact us directly as a first method of contact and resolution. Your feedback is important to us as we do what we do to help your health and wellness. If we cannot meet your resolution expectations, or for any other reason, we will assist you in reaching the appropriate Provincially regulated body which governs our profession.