New findings under the Alberta Health Information Act

Two brand-new findings from the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, both under the Health Information Act (Alberta):

Commissioner decides that physician not required to attach patient's statement of disagreement to record

March 27, 2006

Commissioner decides that physician not required to attach patient's statement of disagreement to record

Information and Privacy Commissioner Frank Work has issued his first decision about statements of disagreement under the Health Information Act (HIA).

HIA allows a person to ask a custodian, such as a physician, to correct or amend the person's health information. If the custodian refuses, the person can ask to have a statement of disagreement attached to the record that the person asked to be corrected or amended.

The statement of disagreement must comply with the requirements set out in HIA. The patient's statement of disagreement in this case did not comply with those requirements. Therefore, the Commissioner decided that the physician was not required to attach the patient's statement of disagreement to the record.

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To obtain a copy of Order H2005-005, contact Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.

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Commissioner upholds Custodian's decision to withhold information

March 27, 2006

Commissioner upholds Custodian's decision to withhold information

Information and Privacy Commissioner Frank Work has upheld a decision to refuse to provide an individual with the names, initials, signatures, position titles, professional designations and credentials of other individuals under the Health Information Act (HIA).

The HIA allows a custodian to refuse to provide an individual with access to that individual's own health information where the disclosure could reasonably be expected to threaten the mental or physical health or safety of other individuals.

The information withheld from the patient's mental health records fell within this exception to access. Therefore, the Commissioner upheld the decision to withhold the information.

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To obtain a copy of Order F2004-005 & H2004-001, contact Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner