Pihlajalinna Online Service and Health Application General Terms and Conditions, version 1.5 [17.4.2023]
1. Applying the terms and conditions
These general terms and conditions shall be applicable to Pihlajalinna's online service (“Online Service”) and to the Pihlajalinna Health Application service (“Health Application”), together (“the Service”), unless otherwise stated. Pihlajalinna’s Online Service and Pihlajalinna Health Application are services provided by the Pihlajalinna Group (Pihlajalinna Oyj, Business ID 2617455– 1, hereinafter “the Service Provider”) where customers (hereinafter “the Customer”) can do things like view their health information and book an appointment.
The Customer must understand that the Service cannot be used in emergency situations, but instead, they must contact the general emergency number: 112.
2. Registration and accepting the terms and conditions
Using the Service requires the Customer to commit to following these terms and conditions. During registration, the Customer confirms that they have read and accepted these terms and conditions and consents to having their information used in the Service. Requirements for using the service include registration with strong electronic authentication, and providing the information required for registration. The user information provided in connection to the registration and the service method chosen by the Customer (private interaction, occupational health interaction or public healthcare interaction) are a part of the Service Provider’s customer registry and they shall be only used for the purpose defined within it. In order to ensure the quality and fluency of the care, the information related to the patient care relationship is recorded in the joint patient register of Pihlajalinna and the practitioners operating at Pihlajalinna locations and, in connection with public healthcare services, in the wellbeing services county patient register. The privacy policies are available on the Service Provider’s website.
Wellbeing Services County of Tampere Region: https://pirha.fi/tietosuojaselosteet
Wellbeing Services County of Central Finland: https://hyvaks.fi/asiakkaana/tietosuoja
Wellbeing Services County of South Ostrobothnia: https://www.hyvaep.fi/tietoa-ja-ohjeita/tietosuoja/
Well-being services County of Ostrobothnia: https://en.osterbottensvalfard.fi/about-us/organisation-and-decision-makig/our-data-protection-practices/
3. Purpose and use of the Service
Pihlajalinna, Parkano, Mänttä-Vilppula, KuusSoTe and Jämsä have joined the Patient Data Repository; Pihlajalinna on 1 June 2017, Parkano in May 2015, Mänttä-Vilppula in November 2015, KuusSoTe in June 2014, Jämsä in June 2014 and Kristiinankaupunki on 6 November 2012. All these registrars have saved the key patient record notes in the Patient Data Repository. Pihlajalinna also saves the laboratory responses. The patient information recorded before the municipalities joined was not transferred to the repository. On the My Kanta service the Customer can electronically view their own information.
Using the Service, the Customer can view their own health information, insofar as the Service is provided by Pihlajalinna and the information has been saved in Pihlajalinna’s registers. The Service is not for giving treatment recommendations but for showing statements related to the care, the medications prescribes, and the sick leaves. The Service does not contain all the information saved in the customer and patient registry and the information might be incomplete due to the Customer prohibiting the showing of the information.
With the Health Application, the Customer can be in contact with a healthcare professional via instant messages, pictures, and video during the service times provided by the Service Provider’s “Chat Clinic”. The Health Application is compatible with Android and iOS terminal devices. The Health Application offers a new communication channel to go along with appointments at a physical location, and all customer and patient information will be saved in the registers of Pihlajalinna and/or the wellbeing services counties, just like in an appointment at a physical location.
The Customer must not use the Health Application on behalf of or for the benefit of another person. The Customer must understand that the treatment recommendations that may be given via the Chat Clinic may be incomplete due to, among other things, the lack of a physical health check or other similar reason. The Customer may use the Service only in Finland, not abroad.
3.1 Minor’s registration and use of the service
You can use the service with strong authentication on behalf of a dependent child. You can book an appointment for a dependent under the age of 18. In the Health Application, a guardian can use the services on behalf of their child under 12 years of age. Requirements for using the service include registration with strong electronic authentication, and providing the information required for registration.
4. Responsibilities
The Service Provider has the right to take the Service or a part of it down temporarily due to maintenance, installation, alteration work, general order and security, system overload or other similar reason. The Service Provider has the right to add, change, and remove parts of the Service and to stop maintaining the Service either partially or entirely. The Customer receives the Service and uses it at their own responsibility and is responsible for the procurement, operating condition, and appropriate protection of the devices, connections, and software necessary for using the Service. The user is responsible for the appropriate data security of their devices and the network and identifications they use. The Service Provider or its contracting parties hold all the rights, including copyrights, of the Service. The Customer may not use the Service in a manner that infringes the copyrights or other rights of the Service Provider or a third party. The Service Provider reserves the unilateral right to interrupt or end the Customer’s access to the Service or a part of it, if the Customer in any way breaks these terms and conditions.
5. Customer information
5.1 Registering for the service and information provided by the Customer
The Customer gets the right to use the Service in accordance with these terms and conditions. When registering for the Service, the Customer must provide the required information that can be used to recognise and identify the Customer. Using the Service also requires creating a customer-specific account protected with a password. When registering as a user of the service, at least the Customer’s name and social security number will be collected from the provider of the identification service in connection to the strong identification. In addition to this information, the Customer might be asked for the up-to-date contact information or permission for requesting address information from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. When interacting with public healthcare, the Customer’s contact information will be collected from the customer register in the wellbeing services county’s patient registry.
5.2. Use of the Customer information
The Service Provider processes the Customer’s personal information collected in the Service in accordance with the Pihlajalinna Group data protection guidelines and the legislation related to privacy protection. In addition to what is described above, the Service Provider shall share the Customer’s individualised personal information only within the Pihlajalinna Group and only for the purpose of producing the services aimed at the Customer.
5.3. Cookies and analytics
In connection with using the Service, the Service Provider can collect, process, and analyse information about the use, traffic and events of the Service and the other statistical data related to the services, as described in the cookie policies. The Customer has the opportunity to consent to the use of the cookies by changing the privacy settings of the Online Service or the settings of their browser. Preventing the use of cookies might affect the functionality of the Online Service or prevent the use of the Service.
6. Pricing and invoicing
Deploying and using the Service is free, excluding the Chat Clinic provided on the Health Application, which might be subject to charge, depending on the interaction method and the recipient. The valid price prices and price determination reasons are available in the Health Application and on the pihlajalinna.fi website when starting the Chat Clinic.
The Service Provider reserves the right to change its pricing from time to time. By using the Chat Clinic feature of the Health Application, the Customer commits to pay the charges pursuant to the price list or the payments and other charges presented to the User in some other way. The Customer indicates that they understand that the Chat Clinic cannot be cancelled afterwards and a price pursuant to the price list must be paid when Chat Clinic is used. If charging the Customer’s credit card fails for a private interaction fails, a paper invoice of the remote appointment will be sent to the Customer’s home address. The user has the sole responsibility for the costs that using the Service causes for them.
If the Chat Clinic provided on the Health Application is a part of the Customer’s occupational health contract, the employer will be invoiced directly for the appointment fee.
If the Chat Clinic is a part of the Customer’s public healthcare service, it will be invoiced similarly to an appointment at a public healthcare location.
7. Complaints
The Service will be supplied “as it is”. The Service Provider gives no direct or indirect guarantees about the operation or features of the Service and does not guarantee that the Service will work without downtimes and/or flawlessly. The Service Provider is not responsible for any indirect or consequential damage caused by using the Service or the use of the Service being blocked. The claim for damages must be filed within a year from when the Customer noticed or it should have notices the damage. If the Customer notices mistakes in the information presented in the Service, the Customer can request for a correction or removal.
8. Validity
These conditions will enter into force once the Customer has electronically accepted them. The contract remains in force for the time being. The Service Provider can terminate the contract and end the Service at its discretion with a notice of two (2) months. The Customer will be notified of the termination in the Service or in writing. However, if the Customer breaks these conditions in a significant way, the Service Provider can end the contract with immediate effect. The Customer can, at any time, stop using the Service by, for example, removing the application from their device, a separate notification is not needed. However, ending the Service does not affect the possible payments or other reimbursements the Customer has committed to before the Customer stopped using the Service. The ending does not effect the conditions meant to remain in force despite the ending.
9. Changes
In order to develop the Service or for some other necessary reason, the Service Provider is entitled to change the contents and operations of the Service and these terms and conditions. The Service Provider shall notify the Customer of the changes to the service and the Customer must electronically accept the new conditions in order to continue using the Service. The Service Provider is entitled to change the terms and conditions due to changes in legislation, exchange rates, taxes, and other decrees issued by authorities and due to unpredictable matters outside the scope of the Service Provider’s influence. Changes like these enter into force immediately on their effective moment.
10. Force majeure
The parties shall be released from their obligations pursuant to the contract for the time period and in the extent the unfulfilment of the contractual obligations is due to a force majeure. Such an unusual and effective event, which has occurred after the creation of the contract, is independent from the parties, and whose effects cannot be reasonably avoided or overcome, that prevents the fulfilment of the contract can be deemed to be grounds for release.
11. Personal information
The Service Provider shall process the personal information pursuant to the data protection legislation and legislation related to patient information, including the legislation related to the electronic processing of the customer information of social welfare and healthcare and the Service Provider shall ensure that privacy protection and patient confidentiality are carried out in the processing of patient/personal information. The user information is collected to the customer registry when a user registers for the Service.
Pihlajalinna Customer Database Privacy Policy: https://www.pihlajalinna.fi/en/general-information/processing-of-your-personal-data/privacy-statements
When the Chat Clinic service is used, the healthcare professional saves the user information as well as the information provided by the user in the patient information system, whose information is a part of the patient registry of the wellbeing services county or Pihlajalinna. The information shall only be used for the purpose defined in the Patient Information Register.
The Service Provider will not disclose the information it possesses to outsiders, except in a situation where the person whom the information concerns gives their consent or it is required by the law. The Service Provider shall appropriately protect the information in the service.
Information cannot be transferred from the Service to other registers, such as a patient register or third-party registers, without the Customer’s consent. The Service can be used to update information in the registers of the Service Provider and third parties, to the extent enabled by the Service Provider’s privacy policy and the legislation in force at the time. For example, the changes the Customer makes to their own contact information or consents via the Service can also be saved into the Service Provider’s customer registry. The user must make sure that they tell the Service Provider’s healthcare professionals about their illnesses, allergies, injuries, and other similar matters possibly related to the treatment.
12. Applicable law and solving disagreements
The Finnish law shall be applied to the Service and these Terms and Conditions. The aim is to solve possible disagreements related to the use of the Service primarily through negotiations. If the negotiations do not lead to an end result satisfactory for the parties, the disagreements shall be settled in the Pirkanmaa district court.