Privacy Policy

‍Last updated: October 19, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Vertex Executive Health and our medical clinics, HeartHealth Medical Centre, Apex Medical Centre and Prime Medical Centre (together, “we”, “us” or “our”), collect, use, share and protect your personal information and personal health information. Vertex Executive Health is operated by HeartHealth Medical Centres Inc.

It applies to all patients and members at our locations and to anyone who contacts us through our website, by phone or by email.

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1. Our commitment and the law

Protecting your privacy is part of providing good care. We follow Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA), which governs how health care providers handle personal health information, and other privacy laws that apply to us.

Our clinics and the physicians and health care practitioners who work in them are “health information custodians” under PHIPA. Our staff, including health concierges and administrative staff, act on our behalf, are bound by confidentiality, and may only access your information when they need it to do their job.

2. What information we collect

•     Identity and contact information: your name, date of birth, address, phone number, email address, Ontario health card number and emergency contact.

•     Health information: your medical history, medications, allergies, family history, test results (for example ECG, echocardiogram, exercise stress test, spirometry, bloodwork and body composition), assessment reports, visit notes, and information from other health care providers involved in your care.

•     Billing and payment information: fees, receipts and payment records. Online payments are processed by our payment processor, Stripe. We do not see or store your full card number.

•     Website enquiries: the name, phone number and email address you enter in our contact form. Please do not send health information through our website.

•     Communications: records of your calls, emails and messages with us.

We collect only the information we need for the purposes described in this policy.

3. How we collect it

We collect most information directly from you. With your consent, or where the law allows, we may also collect information from other health care providers involved in your care (such as your family physician, specialists, hospitals and laboratories), or from someone authorized to act for you, such as a substitute decision-maker.

4. How we use it

•     To provide, coordinate and follow up on your health care, including your Vertex assessment and personalized report.

•     To contact you about appointments, test results, referrals, prescriptions, billing and your membership (including renewal).

•     To bill for our services, including billing the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) for insured services and issuing receipts for uninsured services.

•     To manage our clinics and programs, improve the quality of our care, and manage risk.

•     To meet our legal, professional and regulatory obligations.

We do not sell your information. We do not send marketing or promotional emails. We only contact you about your care, appointments, billing and membership.

5. Your consent

•     Within your health care team (implied consent). When you come to us for care, we assume you agree to us sharing the information needed for your care with others who provide you health care (your “circle of care”), unless you tell us otherwise.

•     Outside your health care team (express consent). We ask for your express permission before sharing your health information with anyone else, such as your employer, an insurance company, a family member, or a provider who is not a regulated health care custodian. Your consent can be verbal or written, and we record it.

•     You can say no or change your mind. You may refuse or withdraw your consent, or ask us not to share specific information with specific people, at any time by telling us. We will explain how this might affect your care. Where the law requires it, we may let other providers know that some information has been withheld at your request.

•     When the law allows or requires sharing without consent. In limited situations, we may share information without your consent (see section 6).

6. Who we share information with

•     Health care providers involved in your care: your Vertex physician and other physicians at our clinics, specialists, hospitals, laboratories, diagnostic facilities, pharmacies and your family physician.

•     Vertex allied health providers: the personal trainer, nutritionist and psychotherapist in the Vertex program are independent providers. When you enrol, you agree in your Membership Agreement to us sharing with them the information each one needs for your session (for example, your fitness assessment results with your personal trainer). We share only that information. Each of them is responsible for the records they keep about you.

•     The Ontario government and provincial health systems: the Ministry of Health for OHIP billing, and Ontario’s provincial electronic health record systems (for example, for laboratory results), as permitted by law.

•     Service providers who help us operate: for example our electronic medical record provider, payment processor (Stripe), email provider and website host. They may only use your information to provide their service to us and must protect it.

•     Employers and insurers: only with your express consent. If your employer pays for your membership, we share only billing information (such as your name, the fee and the dates), never your health information, unless you give your express consent.

•     When required or permitted by law: for example reporting certain diseases to public health, reporting a child in need of protection, reporting medical conditions that affect driving to the Ministry of Transportation, responding to a court order, subpoena or coroner, responding to a regulatory college such as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, or preventing a significant risk of serious bodily harm.

•     If a clinic or program changes hands: records may be transferred to a successor health information custodian as permitted by PHIPA, and we will make reasonable efforts to notify you.

7. Information stored outside Canada

Some of our service providers, such as our payment processor, email provider, website host and website analytics provider (Google), may store or process information outside Canada (for example, in the United States), where it may be subject to the laws of that country. We keep health information out of these systems as much as possible.

8. Email and text messages

With your agreement, we may contact you by email or text, for example about appointments or to send your report. Email and text are convenient but not completely secure. You can ask usto contact you by phone only. Please do not use email or text for urgent or emergency concerns.

9. How we protect your information

•     Physical safeguards: records and equipment are kept in secured areas with restricted access.

•     Technical safeguards: passwords and user access controls on our computer systems, and access logs in our electronic medical record.

•     Administrative safeguards: staff access information on a need-to-know basis only.

10. How long we keep it

We keep medical records for at least 10 years after the last entry in the record or, for patients who were under 18, at least 10 years after the patient’s 18th birthday, as required by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. We keep billing and financial records for as long as tax and other laws require. When records are no longer needed, we destroy them securely (for example, by shredding paper and securely erasing electronic records).

11. Your rights

•     Access: you can ask to see or get a copy of your records. We will respond within 30 days. In some cases we may need up to 30 more days, and we will tell you in writing if so. We may charge a fee that reflects our reasonable cost, and we will give you an estimate first. In limited situations allowed by law, we may refuse access, and we will explain why.

•     Correction: if you believe your record is inaccurate or incomplete, you can ask us in writing to correct it. We will respond within 30 days (or upto 30 more days, with written notice). If we do not agree to the correction, you can ask us to attach a statement of disagreement to your record.

•     Complaints: you can make a complaint to us or to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (see section 15).

To make a request, contact our Privacy Officer (see section 14). We may ask you to confirm your identity.

12. Substitute decision-makers and children

If you are not able to make decisions about your information, a substitute decision-maker may act on your behalf, as set out in PHIPA. For children under 16, a parent or guardian cangenerally make decisions about the child’s health information, except for information about treatment or counselling that the child decided on by themselves.

13. Privacy breaches

If your personal health information is lost, stolen, or accessed or shared without authorization, we will notify you at the first reasonable opportunity. Where required by law, we will also notify the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.

14. Contact our Privacy Officer

For questions about this policy, to request access to or correction of your records, or to make a privacy complaint, please contact:

Privacy Officer

Vertex Executive Health (HeartHealth Medical  Centres Inc.)

106-3133 Sheppard Ave E, Scarborough, Ontario M1T  3J7

Phone: 416-841-2612

Email: info@vertexexec.ca

15. Complaints to the Information and Privacy Commissioner

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your information or your request, you can complain to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario:

Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario

2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario  M4W 1A8

Phone: 416-326-3333 or 1-800-387-0073

Website: www.ipc.on.ca

16. Our website

Our website uses cookies and similar tracking tools, including Google Analytics, to make the site work, understand how visitors use it, and measure how well our advertising works. These tools may collect information such as the pages you visit, the links andbuttons you click, your device and browser type, and your general location. They do not collect what you type into our contact form or any health information.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, and you can opt out of Google Analytics by installing Google’s opt-out browser add-on (tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout).

Information you enter in our contact form is used only to respond to your enquiry.

17. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always available on our website, with the date it was last updated at the top.

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