Privacy Collection Notice – Health information
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We (DVA, the Repatriation Commission and Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission) are committed to protecting your privacy and managing personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

Health information is considered sensitive information under the Privacy Act. This notice explains the purposes for which we collect sensitive health information and how we use, disclose and protect it for a variety of DVA programs and services, as required under APP 5.

Legislative authority

We are authorised under our portfolio legislation and the Privacy Act to collect, use and disclose a range of personal information. A full listing of the legislation we administer is set out in the Administrative Arrangements Orders.

More information about our functions and the services we provide can be accessed via the Who we are page on this website. This includes detailed information about the range of health care services funded by DVA.

Purposes of collection

We collect your health information to perform our legislative functions in delivering payments, services, rehabilitation and treatment to veterans, families and other eligible persons. This includes facilitating and funding health and other care services that promote wellbeing through early intervention, prevention and treatment, research to better understand and support improved health and wellbeing outcomes, and providing advice and information about health service entitlements.

For example, we may collect your health information and other personal information to:

  • process your DVA claims and entitlements, including claims for compensation for service-related conditions and treatment, and other financial support
  • support your access to health care or to help cover health care costs, such as the costs of medical services from your GP, medical specialists or a number of allied-health services for accepted conditions on referral from your GP
  • provide free mental health care for veterans and counselling and support for families
  • assist with advice and guidance about transitioning from the ADF to civilian life
  • provide support for vulnerable families
  • help you with rehabilitation, including to correctly assess your needs for rehabilitation services  
  • support you to stay at home, or guide a move into aged care
  • provide the right level of services in your home, for example, nursing and cleaning, including helping to find a provider to deliver these services to you
  • confirm with providers, such as hospitals, whether you are eligible for treatment under DVA’s arrangements so that services provided to you are not incorrectly billed
  • help our providers send you the right vehicle for transport to treatment, for example, a wheelchair taxi
  • ensure aids, appliances and home modifications match your needs so you can be discharged from hospital promptly
  • assess requests from your doctor for access to clinically appropriate medicine where prior approval is required
  • provide financial aid and support services to help veterans with access to more affordable medicines under the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS)
  • process millions of claims for payment each year from health and other service providers for the above and to conduct audits and post payment monitoring and for compliance purposes to ensure claims and payments are validly and lawfully made
  • investigate and manage complaints about DVA-contracted providers and services
  • undertake research for the benefit of veterans and their families (for more information, go to the DVA Research and privacy page).

Personal information may also be collected for the discharge of other functions under legislation administered by other Commonwealth agencies, for example, means-testing in relation to aged care services under the Aged Care Act 1997.

How we use or disclose information

DVA generally uses and discloses personal information, including health information, only for the primary purpose for which it is collected. In certain circumstances, we may use personal information for another purpose but only where this would be authorised by the Privacy Act. This may include where you have consented to this secondary purpose or where the secondary purpose is required or authorised by law. Some examples of where we might use personal information for a secondary purpose include:

  • in relation to the delivery of payments and services under our portfolio legislation - for example, we may use your personal information to:
    • communicate with you about a payment or service that we administer
    • verify your identity and eligibility for payments and services
    • ensure correct payments are made to you
    • verify data provided in relation to claims and reviews
    • investigate fraud, including internal fraud
    • manage complaints and feedback
    • conduct continuous improvement activities to improve the delivery of our payments and services
    • evaluate and report on programs and services and establish new or improved services and programs
    • administer and provide online services, including MyService.
  • where we have been compelled by a Court or Tribunal to produce certain information

Outlined below are our usual disclosure arrangements with other government agencies.

We may share health information with and/or collect information from:

  • the Department of Defence for the following purposes:
    • obtaining information about your military service and medical history to determine liability for a service injury, disease or death, compensation claims (including reconsiderations or reviews), eligibility for treatment, rehabilitation and other health services;       
    • monitoring or reporting of the Defence Force’s Occupational Health and Safety performance;
    • monitoring the cost to the Commonwealth of a service injury or service disease;
    • litigation involving a service injury, disease or death.
  • Services Australia (Centrelink and Medicare) for data-matching and related purposes, such as determining your eligibility for treatment, payments and benefits and for administering the social security law
  • State and Territory Departments of Health for data-matching and related purposes, such as determining your eligibility for treatment
  • Services Australia to verify Centrelink payments that may impact entitlements under our legislation
  • Services Australia (Medicare) to verify Medicare entitlement and claims made that may impact entitlements under our legislation, and to process payments for treatment including for pharmaceuticals claimed under the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
  • Services Australia (Medicare) and health providers and transport providers to verify claims for travelling expenses and treatment services
  • Services Australia (Centrelink and Medicare) and the Department of Social Services for means-testing in relation to aged care services
  • Services Australia as DVA’s information technology and shared services provider. Services Australia is responsible for maintaining the systems and databases where your data is stored
  • Department of Health for income testing in relation to aged care services
  • ComSuper and other superannuation funds in relation to veterans’ superannuation funds and benefits
  • Australian Digital Health Agency for the purposes of the My Health Records Act 2012 (Cth)
  • the Department of Finance and the Reserve Bank of Australia to facilitate payment of your claim;
  • Comcare and other state and territory workers’ compensation authorities
  • various state and local government authorities, private business enterprises and business authorities to verify eligibility for rebates or concessions relating to rates, electricity, transport, motor vehicles and ambulance; and
  • the Veterans’ Review Board, Administrative Appeals Tribunal or Federal Court on appeal.

We also share health information with and/or collect information from:

  • medical and health professionals, hospitals, clinics, health, rehabilitation and aged care in-home service providers to verify eligibility, process DVA claims and provide payments, benefits and services
  • your nominated representative or authorised agent
  • your nominated ex-service organisation advocate or legal practitioner  
  • your current and/or previous employer(s) to determine claims for incapacity payments
  • insurance companies and health funds
  • DVA’s research partners, and the Departments of Defence and Veterans' Affairs Human Research Ethics Committee (DDVA HREC) for ethical approvals
  • State and Territory Departments of Health ambulance services or their third-party providers where required to validate eligibility for emergency and non-emergency ambulance services
  • agents, consultants, contractors and outsourced service providers engaged by DVA to undertake certain activities and functions (note that such entities who have access to personal information collected by DVA, or who collect personal information on behalf of DVA, have obligations to ensure they handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act). DVA’s contracts with service providers, such as public and private hospitals, also impose strict obligations around privacy.

DVA is not likely to disclose personal information to overseas recipients unless the information relates to:

  • an incident, investigation, injury or illness sustained while overseas
  • treatment provided by an overseas practitioner
  • the establishment of Commonwealth or allied military service; or
  • the investigation of a claim by a Commonwealth or allied country.

Open Arms clinical records are not accessible to DVA without your consent unless required or authorised by law. 

A number of DVA forms and some specific program and service collection notices and consents provide additional information regarding the purposes for which we collect health information and other uses and usual disclosure practices.

DVA’s Privacy Policy (the Policy) explains how DVA will manage and protect your personal information. The Policy contains information about how you can access the information DVA holds about you, how you can ask DVA to correct your information and how you can make a complaint if you have concerns about how DVA has managed your information.

For more information or to access our Privacy Policy please refer to the DVA Privacy Policy page or phone 133 254 (regional callers 1800 555 254) or email privacy@dva.gov.au.

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