Information and Privacy Commissioner Pleased with Amendments to Bill 52

May 27, 2009

Information and Privacy Commissioner, Frank Work, is pleased with proposed amendments made to Bill 52, the Health Information Amendment Act. The Standing Committee on Health recently passed a number of amendments to the Bill, which were tabled in the Legislature earlier this week.

Work says these are good amendments for Albertans, “They address the key areas of concern I discussed in my original submission to the committee, and return a measure of privacy control for Albertans over their health information. In particular the amendments ensure Albertans can ask that their health information be masked in Netcare and allows them to get a copy of a log that shows who has accessed their record”.

Work is satisfied with an amendment that ensures he will be consulted on the development of Health Information Repositories. “It is important for my office to have the opportunity to comment on draft regulations that outline the duties and obligations of an HIR concerning privacy of health information.”

Work says overall he is pleased with the amendments and the committee’s work on Bill 52. “I applaud committee chair Fred Horne and the committee for the significant progress they made in addressing the concerns raised by this office and by other parties.”