Your file

For a good treatment it is necessary that a therapist creates a file: on paper, digital or a combination of both. This means that your therapist records your data from the moment of your registration. It concerns data about your health, for example your history and reports of conversations. However also administrative data, such as your name, date of birth, address and telephone number. As healthcare providers, we are obliged to establish your identity and record your Citizen Service Number (BSN).

Your files also contain the data necessary for your treatment that have been obtained through other care providers, such as the referral letter from the GP or information from another therapist/referrer.

Security of your file

All legal measures have been taken to ensure that your data is stored securely and that it is not lost or falls into unauthorized hands. In the event that data does leaks or get’s lost, your healthcare provider is obliged to report this to the Dutch Data Protection Authority and to take appropriate measures to prevent repetition in the future. Your therapist will also inform you accordingly.

Access to your file

All persons working within the practice who are involved in your treatment have access to your file. This also applies to the colleagues who replace in case of absence due to illness, holidays or for other reasons. They are also bound by professional secrecy. Your file will only be inspected to the extent that this is necessary to provide you with proper care.

General practitioner / referrer

Only with your consent we (the psychologists) are allowed to provide information to the GP/referrer or possibly to a practitioner to whom you are referred. For example, it may concern information about referral or a report. This concerns relevant data from your file.

Every time information is actually shared, you will be asked for permission again, so that you know which information is shared for which purpose and with whom. If you give your consent or objection to giving information to the GP/referrer or possibly to a treatment provider to whom you are referred, a note will be placed in your file. The information will not be provided in case of an objection.

Retention Period of your file

Once your treatment has been completed, your file will be kept for at least 20 years. If you want your file to be destroyed, the retention period may be shorter (see below under “Your rights”)

Your rights

As a client, you have a number of rights under the law regarding the data recorded about you in your file. Your legal representative (parent, guardian or mentor) or a person authorized by you in writing can also invoke these rights on your behalf. There is an exception to this: if exercising these rights would harm your interests in the opinion of your practitioner, your practitioner does not have to comply.

Right to access and copy

You have the right to access your file and you can request a copy; your practitioner will respond to your request within one month. You are entitled to one free copy. A reasonable fee may be charged for a second copy based on the administrative costs. If you have requested a digital copy, your practitioner may also provide you with a digital copy of your file. If data from others, such as your partner or child, are recorded in the same file, this will affect your right of access (unless you have provided this data yourself). Your practitioner will inform you of this in that case.

Right to correction or addition

If you believe that certain data in your file is incorrect, you can ask your practitioner to change, correct or supplement it. This only concerns factual inaccuracies; changing or correcting the professional judgement of your practitioner is not possible. However, your practitioner can, if you wish, include an additional statement with your own view in the file. If you believe that the recorded data was not relevant at that time, but you still want to keep it, you can request that it be shielded from employees. Your practitioner will respond to your request within one month.

Right to destruction

You can request in writing to have (part of) your data from your treatment file destroyed. We will then respond to your request within one month. If it proves impossible to comply with your request within that period, your practitioner will let you know. In that case, a two-month extension is possible.

The above only applies to the data from the treatment file. For your data in our administration (including invoice, care request type), Praktijk voor Psychologie must retain this for a longer period due to tax legislation and checks by health insurers.

In a number of cases, your practitioner may refuse to comply with your request on the basis of the law; your practitioner will then explain why.

Health insurers

Treatment providers are required by law to record a number of your personal and treatment data. Some of this information will also appear on the health insurer’s invoice (such as name, address, place of residence, BSN). If you object to this, you can sign a privacy statement. This is a form that indicates that the diagnosis can not be passed on to your health insurer insurer (you will find this on the last page of this document). We do not have to mention the treatment diagnosis on declarations in the General Basic Mental Healthcare.
Under certain policy conditions, you are only entitled to reimbursement based on the policy conditions of your health insurance policy if your health insurer has given you permission in advance. This is also called an authorization. In those cases, the health insurer can ask us for information about the diagnosis. If you object to this provision of information, you can make this known by signing a privacy statement. This may result in your health insurer not giving authorization and therefore that the treatment is not reimbursed.
Health insurers are allowed to check whether the administration is in order and the invoices are correct. During an inspection, a health insurer sometimes asks for information or access to the file. Praktijk voor Psychologie is obliged to cooperate with this, but only if a number of strict conditions are met that have been laid down by law. In those cases, your permission is not required; you will be informed about this in advance.
Privacystatement