1. Health Equity: Respecting Individuals and their Privacy
Amanda Brennan, B.A., LL.B.
Corporate Privacy Officer & Freedom of Information Coordinator
October 4, 2012

2. Respecting Individuals & their Privacy
Privacy Offices typically concern themselves with the following issues:
Collection of personal health information (PHI)
Use of PHI
Disclosure of PHI
Storage, Retention and Destruction
in compliance with the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA)

3. Implementation & Customization
Research indicates that implementation should be customized to the clinical environment
Governing committee within each hospital can advise on best methods of implementation within that hospital
MSH will support other hospitals through implementation in a variety of ways

4. Collecting Personal Health Information (PHI)
Year of birth
Race
Religious affiliation
Disability
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Family income and number of people income supports
Housing
Preferred spoken language
Ability to speak and understand English
Preferred language for written materials
Whether or not individual was born in Canada, and if not their year of arrival
Reasonably foreseeable that the information collected could identify an individual as a patient of the hospital

5. Collecting Personal Health Information (PHI)
Broadly speaking the principles underlying our health care system, encoded in the Canada Health Act support the goals of this data collection:
s.12(1)(a) “In order to satisfy the criterion respecting accessibility, the health care insurance plan of a province must provide for insured health services … on a basis that does not impede or preclude, either directly or indirectly whether by charges made to insured persons or otherwise, reasonable access to those services by insured persons.”

6. Collecting Personal Health Information (PHI)
Collecting with consent: building trust & complying with PHIPA
Ask patients for knowledgeable consent:
Tell them the purpose of collection
Be prepared to answer questions about the collection, use and disclosure of their PHI
Document consent
Permit patients to answer all, some or none of the Qs, as they choose

7. Use PHIPA permits hospitals to use PHI that they have collected for:
“the purpose for which the information was collected…”
“planning or delivering programs or services that the custodian provides … evaluating or monitoring any of them”
“to improve or maintain the quality of care or…any related programs”

8. Disclosure
Aggregate data – to the extent it is not identifiable – can be used and disclosed as it is not subject to PHIPA
To the extent information is identifiable, it would be subject to the stricter disclosure limitations of PHIPA

9. Storage, Retention & Destruction
MSH program stores PHI within each patient’s electronic record with this data in a special portion of the chart so that it can be aggregated & manipulated to draw relevant conclusions
Retained in accordance with our Retention and Storage of Records Policy; securely destroyed afterwards

10. Amanda Brennan, B.A., LL.B.
Mount Sinai Hospital,
Corporate Privacy Officer & Freedom of Information Coordinator
ext. 2101