Protecting Personal Health Information – General Consultation (CLOSED)

The College’s Confidentiality of Personal Health Information policy is currently being reviewed. The newly-titled draft policy Protecting Personal Health Information updates the expectations of physicians about protecting the confidentiality and privacy of patients’ personal health information.

A draft Advice to the Profession: Protecting Personal Health Information document has also been developed, providing general guidance and contextual information to help physicians interpret and apply the College’s expectations as set out in the draft policy.

    View the draft policy and advice to the profession document.

    View the feedback received through our online survey.

    View the feedback received through our consultation discussion page.

Key Features of the Draft Policy

The draft policy has been re-organized, with a new definitions section and headings. While many of the current policy’s expectations have been retained, the scope of the policy now captures concepts privacy of personal health information, in addition to confidentiality. The draft policy also updates expectations around obtaining consent from patients who are minors, security of communications and mobile devices, and privacy breaches.

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Have your say

We want to hear your thoughts on the draft policy. For example, we are interested to know:

• Does the draft policy and/or advice document provide useful guidance?
• Are there issues not addressed in the draft policy and/or advice document that should be addressed? 
• What challenges or concerns have you experienced, either as a health care provider or member of the public, with respect to protecting patients’ personal health information?

Please submit your comments by November 22, 2019.

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Next Steps

Comments received during the consultation will be carefully reviewed and used to evaluate the draft policy and advice to the profession document. Final decisions regarding policy revisions are made by College Council. A copy of the final policy and advice document will be posted on this page as well as the College’s website.

We value your feedback and thank you for participating in this policy review.