To mark Data Privacy Day 2013, Alberta’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Jill Clayton, announced a new initiative to inform Albertans about their privacy rights in the provincial electronic health record system, Alberta Netcare.
Commissioner Clayton said, “Albertans may not be aware, but just about everyone’s health information has been made available to authorized users in Netcare. My Office has reviewed and accepted privacy impact assessments from Alberta Health and other participants in Netcare, but I want to make sure patients are aware of their access and privacy rights and how to exercise them.”
In relation to Alberta Netcare, you have the right to:
- know why your health information is collected and whether it is available in Netcare
- know what’s in Netcare about you by asking for a print-out
- limit access to your Netcare record by asking for your information to be masked
- know who has looked at your information in Netcare
- ask that errors be corrected
- ask the Information and Privacy Commissioner to review or investigate if you are not satisfied with a decision or response you receive about any of these rights
For a detailed description of these Netcare rights, visit:
https://oipc.ab.ca/pages/HIA/NetcareKnowYourRights.aspx
Data Privacy Day highlights the privacy rights of individuals and promotes the importance of valuing and protecting personal information. For more information on Data Privacy day, visit:
http://www.staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-day