Question

14. Define and Outline the Canadian and Ontario privacy statutes that affect health information and explain the relevance to an HIM Professional [C-3-1 (2)]:

Answer 1

Canadian privacy law is derived from the common law, statutes of the Parliament of Canada. A party intentionally or recklessly intrudes upon the private affairs or concerns of another, the intrusion is significant, there is no lawful justification, and a reasonable person would find the intrusion to be highly offensive causing distress, humiliation or anguish. An Act extends the present laws of Canada that protect the privacy of individuals with respect to personal information about themselves held by a Government institution and that provide individuals with a right of access to that information.

In this Act, administrative purpose, in relation to the use of personal information about an individual, means the use of that information in a decision-making process that directly affects that individual.

Personal health information Protection Act:

The personal Health Information Protection Act also known as PHIPA is Ontario legislation established in Nov. 2004. PHIPA is one of two components of the Health Information Protection Act. The Health Information Protection Act, also established in 2004, comprises two schedules: PHIPA (Schedule A) and the Quality of Care Information Protection Act (Schedule B).

Under the Act,  personal health information includes identifying information about an individual if the information relates to the physical or mental health of the individual, including information that consists of the health history of the individual's family.

PHIPA provides a set of rules for the collection, use, and disclosure of personal health information, and includes the following provisions:

• Consent is required for the collection, use, and disclosure of personal health information with the few exceptions.
• Health information custodians are required to treat all personal health information as confidential and maintain its security.
• Individuals have a right to access their personal health information, as well as the right to correct errors
• Individuals have the right to instruct health information custodians not to share their personal health information with others.
• Rules are provided for the use of personal health information for fundraising or marketing purposes
• Guidelines are set for the use and disclosure of personal health information for research purposes.
• Accountability is ensured by granting an individual the right to complain if they have identified an error in their personal health information.
• Remedies are established for breaches of the legislation.

HIM Professionals may participate in medical transcription, deliver information to physicians, assemble medical records, maintain those records, and file them as necessary. They also preserve the confidentiality of patients and ensure their privacy through various means. In recent years, security has taken center stage.

The current state of the healthcare industry has underscored the importance of HIM professionals. According to a recent report, the number of exposed healthcare records nearly tripled in 2017 to 2018. As cybercriminals grow more sophisticated, individuals in health information management will prove critical to data security, especially HIPAA compliance. Since HIPAA rules require that organizations have a privacy or security officer, HIM professionals often take on the responsibilities of an organization's privacy officer. They will be responsible for implementing the whole program, like policy and procedures; writing them, training of staff, just making sure that the laws and the requirements are met as a whole.

With these rapid changes, HIM professionals are naturally interested to learn more about what their occupation will soon involve. Todays environment, the function of HIM proffessionals is increasing similar to the role of information managers associated with the tech industgry. Historically, HIM Professionals handled matter of privacy , but now they have to show a much stronger grasp on digial solutions. Employers often search for these qualities.