HealthEngine, medical booking app, facing multi-million-dollar fines for selling patient health data

Krusty · Aug 7, 2019

Australia's biggest medical appointment booking app HealthEngine is facing multi-million-dollar penalties after an ABC investigation exposed its practice of funnelling users' personal health information to law firms.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has launched legal action against the Perth-based company in the Federal Court, accusing it of misleading and deceptive conduct.

In June last year, the ABC revealed HealthEngine was passing on users' most sensitive health information to law firms seeking clients for personal injury claims.

The details of the deal were contained in secret internal Slater and Gordon documents that revealed HealthEngine was sending the firm a daily list of prospective clients at part of a pilot program in 2017.
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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08...massive-fine-after-abc-investigation/11394564

guest · Aug 21, 2020

HealthEngine ordered to pay $2.9m for ‘misleading conduct’
August 20, 2020
https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/professional/federal-court-orders-healthengine-to-pay-2-9m-for

The settlement saw HealthEngine admit to providing non-clinical personal information – such as names, dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses – to nine different third-party private health insurance brokers without properly informing consumers.

This arrangement earned the online medical booking platform more than $1.8 million over a period of four years and two months.
HealthEngine also admitted to engaging in conduct that was misleading or deceptive, or likely to mislead or deceive, by not choosing to not publish close to 17,000 negative patient reviews of medical practices, and by editing a further 3253 reviews to embellish them or remove negative aspects.
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ACCC Chair Rod Sims said the organisation is ‘very concerned’ about the potential for consumer harm from the use or misuse of consumer data.

‘The ACCC was particularly concerned about HealthEngine’s misleading conduct in connection with reviews it published, because patients may have visited medical practices based on manipulated reviews that did not accurately reflect other patients’ experiences,’ Mr Sims said.
‘These penalties and other orders should serve as an important reminder to all businesses that if they are not upfront with how they will use consumers’ data, they risk breaching the Australian Consumer Law [ACL].’
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