According to a CBC report published yesterday, a home medical services company was recently hacked and tens of thousands of health records for home care patients across Ontario were held for ransom. The home care company issued a public statement in June 2018 confirming that it had been the victim of a cyber attack. A group… Read more »

Not everyone who trains as a physician practices medicine or continues to practice medicine. Some choose to work in a hospital environment but not as a physician such as in administration, research, information technology, finance, risk, law, policy, public relations, or interdisciplinary professional practice. Medical training can be an enormous advantage for a candidate applying… Read more »

As of July 1st, Nurse Practitioners (nurses in the extended class) in Ontario must now report certain conditions and impairments that could negatively impact an individual’s ability to drive. NPs join physicians and optometrists in this mandatory reporting duty. For all my family health teams, nurse practitioner-led clinics, community health centres, Aboriginal Health Access Centres,… Read more »

Ok. I wasn’t really undercover.  But I was a patient. I spent five days in hospital last week for a surgical procedure. I’m sore and hobbling around now.   While I was in hospital – I learned a lot about being a patient. In my normal day to day life, I give legal advice to health care organizations. I write… Read more »

Calling all Health Privacy Officers. You need to read the just  released PHIPA Decision 73 from the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. Bottom Line: This decision has an impact on all health care organizations in Ontario.  Communications with your insurer, such as HIROC, may be accessible through PHIPA access requests. This is not your run… Read more »

Disclaimer: I’m not a GDPR expert by any stretch of the imagination.   GDPR stands for the General Data Protection Regulation – it came into force today – May 25, 2018. It provides new protections for citizens of the European Union.  Here is a great website with videos and text to explain it. You may be wondering… Read more »

IPC just released Decision 72 It’s another correction request. The IPC decided not to review the complaint. The medical clinic did not have to make the correction. A medical clinic received a correction request asking that a specific reference prepared by a physician be removed. The author physician had died. The clinic refused the request…. Read more »

The Information and Privacy Commissioner was in Hamilton, ON on Friday with one of the popular “Reaching Out to Ontario” road shows. The Commissioner provided an update on Latest Developments at the IPC. Here are some highlights: The IPC received 629 health privacy complaints in 2017 – up from 269 in 2006 The vast majority… Read more »

Ransomware and phishing attacks are rampant in health care. Ever get an email from a bank you don’t use saying your account has been compromised? Ever get a message from a company with whom you do business saying “Click on this link to update your profile”? But you think to yourself, hmmmm, that’s weird, I… Read more »

One of the top 5 questions I get asked when I do privacy training in primary care offices is: What patient information am I supposed to share with an insurance company? It’s an every day reality that health care organizations receive release of information forms to send insurance companies information about patients.  The queries can… Read more »