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PrivacyHORIZON: Vol. 1, No. 4 |
Will the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) apply to healthcare when it comes into full effect next January? The answer is "nobody knows". Healthcare organizations across the country are scrambling to understand the impact of the federal legislation on their operations. So far only the lawyers are winning.
The legislation will apply in provinces and territories that do not have "substantially similar" laws in place. To date only Quebec is acknowledged as having substantially similar legislation. British Columbia and Alberta are working on private sector privacy bills to be introduced this year. Rumour has it that the health privacy Acts in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta will not be deemed substantially similar.
The BIG question concerns application of PIPEDA to hospitals and physicians. The legislation applies to "commercial" activity and there is a very lively debate over whether or not hospital and physician services are commercial. On one side it is argued that public hospitals and physicians are publicly funded, and are therefore non-commercial. On the other side both hospitals and physicians do some work for insurance companies and bill some patients (e.g. visitors from out of country) directly. Many hospitals contract out services to commercial firms. We may have to wait until the issue is settled by the courts before we know for sure. [More…] 
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On February 10, 2003 the Alberta Ministry of Children's Services launched a website to promote the adoption of children in the province. The Ministry thought they had covered all the bases. They had completed a privacy impact assessment and obtained signoff from the Ministry's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Branch. But the Ministry was caught off-guard by a torrent of criticism by privacy and child welfare advocates.
PRIVA-CTM Research has assembled a "Lessons Learned" article that gives a chronology of events as reported in the media (including links to articles) and a number of suggestions to help health organizations avoid or manage similar events. [More…]
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Privacy in Health Research
The Canadian Institutes for Health Research has published Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act: Questions and Answers for Health Researchers. [More…] The definitive guide on privacy and confidentiality in health research is the Tri-Council Policy Statement Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. [More…]
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PIPEDA and Pharmacies
The Canadian Pharmacists Association has published a legal opinion concerning the applicability of PIPEDA to pharmacies on their website. It concludes that PIPEDA will apply to pharmacies in provinces that do not have substantially similar legislation in January 2004. [More…]
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Pharmacies Ordered to Stop Selling Information
The Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner has ordered pharmacies in that province to stop selling prescription information that identifies physicians to IMS Health. The order is made under the Alberta Health Information Act. [More…] This ruling is at odds with a finding on a similar case made by the Federal Privacy Commissioner under PIPEDA. [More…] The Federal Commissioner's finding is presently being appealed to the Federal Court.
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Reaction to Hospital Privacy Survey
Following publication of the PRIVA-CTM Canadian Hospital Privacy Survey last month, we received many requests to copy and distribute the report. The survey was cited in the Toronto Star. We did receive two complaints. One was from a reader in Newfoundland who felt that we did not fairly represent the significant work taking place in the province with respect to privacy. The other was from a reader in British Columbia who felt that we should not have characterized BC as not having health privacy legislation in place as much of the health sector, including hospitals, is covered under the province's public sector privacy legislation.
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