PrimaMed is a medical billing and accounts bureau. We manage billing for dental and medical practices across South Africa.

• Company: PrimaMed (Pty) Ltd

• Address: 14 Ridgeway Ave, Midstream Ridge Estate, Olifantsfontein, 1692, South Africa

• Phone: +27 76 706 8654

• Email: info@primamed.co.za

• Website: www.primamed.co.za

This policy covers information we receive from practices, patients, medical schemes and visitors to our website. It also covers messages patients send us or receive from us on WhatsApp.

For most patient information, the practice where you were treated is the responsible party. PrimaMed is its operator: we process the information on the practice's behalf, under a written agreement and the practice's instructions.

We collect only what we need to submit claims, collect payment and answer your questions.

• Identity and contact: name, ID number, date of birth, address, phone number, email. Source: the practice, you.

• Medical aid: scheme name, plan, membership number, main member and dependant details. Source: the practice, you, your medical scheme.

• Health and treatment (special personal information): procedure and diagnosis codes (ICD-10, tariff codes), treatment dates, treating practitioner, pre-authorisation numbers. Source: the practice.

• Account and payment: invoices, statements, payments, outstanding balances. Source: the practice, your medical scheme, you.

• WhatsApp messages: your WhatsApp name and number, the messages and files you send us, and delivery and read status. Source: you, Meta (WhatsApp).

• Website: details you type into a contact form; basic technical data such as browser type and pages visited. Source: you, our website host.

Please don't send us more health information on WhatsApp than you need to. For anything detailed, ask us for a safer way to send it.

We use your information only for billing, payment and related communication. We never sell it or use it for advertising.

We use it to:

1. Prepare and submit claims to your medical scheme, and follow up on them.

2. Send you invoices, statements and payment reminders.

3. Receive and record payments, and resolve queries and disputes.

4. Reply to your messages and send you appointment-related or account-related WhatsApp messages.

5. Keep records required by law, such as tax and accounting records.

Our legal grounds under POPIA (section 11) are:

• performing the contract between you and the practice (paying for your treatment);

• meeting legal obligations, such as tax and medical scheme rules;

• the legitimate interests of the practice and PrimaMed in being paid; and

• your consent, where we ask for it. For example, you choose to message us on WhatsApp.

Health information is special personal information under POPIA. We process it under section 32. That section allows health-care providers, and the operators who work for them, to process it for treatment and for the administration of care, including billing. Everyone at PrimaMed who sees it must keep it confidential.

We share your information only with the people and services who need it to get your account paid.

• The practice that treated you. It owns your patient record and sees your billing information.

• Your medical scheme and its administrator, for example Discovery Health, GEMS, CAMAF, Profmed or Bestmed. They need it to assess and pay claims.

• Claims switching houses, which send claims electronically to medical schemes.

• Meta Platforms (WhatsApp Business Platform), which carries the WhatsApp messages between you and us.

• Our IT, hosting and accounting providers, who store data or support our systems under confidentiality agreements.

• Debt collectors or attorneys, only if an account stays unpaid after reasonable reminders. The practice must agree first.

• Authorities, when the law requires it, for example SARS or a court order.

Everyone we share with must protect your information. They may use it only for the purpose we gave it to them for.

We protect your information with access controls, passwords, encryption and staff confidentiality undertakings. We keep it only as long as the law and the practice require.

• Security. Only staff who work on your account can see it. Our systems use password-protected accounts and encrypted connections. WhatsApp messages are encrypted in transit.

• Breaches. If someone gets access to your information without permission, we will tell the practice straight away. Together we will notify you and the Information Regulator, as section 22 of POPIA requires.

• Retention. We keep billing and financial records for at least 5 years, as tax law requires. Health records are kept for the periods set by the practice and the Health Professions Council of South Africa. After that we delete or destroy them safely.

• Transfers outside South Africa. Some service providers, including Meta for WhatsApp and some cloud hosts, store data on servers outside South Africa. We use them only where the law in that country, or our agreement with the provider, protects your information about as well as POPIA does (section 72).

You can ask to see, correct or delete your information, or object to how we use it. Email info@primamed.co.za and we will reply within 30 days.

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• know whether we hold your information, and get a copy of it;

• have wrong or out-of-date information corrected;

• ask us to delete information we no longer need, or no longer have a right to keep;

• object to us processing your information, and withdraw consent you gave earlier; and

• complain to the Information Regulator.

Stopping WhatsApp messages or deleting WhatsApp data. Reply STOP on WhatsApp to stop receiving messages from us. To have your WhatsApp messages and number deleted from our system, email info@primamed.co.za with the subject "Delete my data". Include your name and WhatsApp number. We will delete them, except anything we must keep by law, and confirm to you in writing.

Information Office: PrimaMed (Pty) Ltd. Email: info@primamed.co.za. Phone: +27 76 706 8654. Address: 14 Ridgeway Ave, Midstream Ridge Estate, Olifantsfontein, 1692.

Information Regulator (South Africa): if you are not happy with our answer, you can complain at www.inforegulator.org.za or email complaints.IR@inforegulator.org.za.If we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page with its date.

Last updated: 18 October 2026