Province considering health-care privacy review: Asagwara

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/05/2024 (495 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial government is considering reviewing health-care privacy legislation after a handful of Manitoba nurses were disciplined for snooping through thousands of patients’ information in recent years.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara discussed the possibility of a review during an unrelated press conference Wednesday morning.

“As a government, it’s incumbent on us when these concerns are brought forward to also explore what more we can do to make sure, for Manitobans accessing health care, that their information is safe and secure,” Asagwara said. “We have legislation in place for a reason, and so we are very open to exploring ways to strengthen that legislation.”

The minister stressed the “vast majority of nurses and health-care workers are adherent” to the Personal Health Information Act, which outlines when, why and how they can view or discuss patient information.

“It’s so important that protocols are being followed to protect patients and protect their security, and to also hold health-care workers accountable…. Employers, we know, have protocol they follow when a breach has been identified — and they have been doing so.”

Asagwara pointed to Bill 36, the Regulated Health Professions Amendment Act, as evidence of the government’s commitment to increasing transparency in the health-care system.

Asagwara introduced the legislation earlier this month. If passed, it would force bodies such as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba to hold public cancellation hearings for physicians convicted of crimes related to suitability to practise. Currently, the hearings are held in private.

The College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba already holds disciplinary hearings publicly. Hearings are held following the investigation of a complaint against a nurse and are used to determine if they are guilty of an offence as charged.

Reports detailing the findings of the investigative panel are typically published online within 90 days of the hearing taking place.

A discipline report, published April 15, showed a nurse was suspended for two weeks and asked to pay $4,000 in costs to the college after admitting to improperly viewing the records of 57 patients.

She joined four other nurses who have been named in discipline reports dating back to 2018, detailing up to 2,140 individual privacy breaches.

After the Free Press published details of the reports, members of the public stepped forward, detailing their own stories of having their personal information breached.

Asagwara stressed there are instances where accidental disclosure or exposure to information can occur, in which case additional education or training can resolve the problem. However, breaches involving malicious intent must be thoroughly investigated.

— with files from Carol Sanders

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca