Privacy watchdog flags digital health access rules

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As Ontario hammers out the fine print for regulations aimed at boosting patient access to digital health records, Information and Privacy Commissioner PATRICIA KOSSEIM is raising concerns that the latest proposal attempts to solve a problem “that may not exist.”

That’s because the change would specify that a patient has the right to access their health records in PDF form — which already exists, so it “does little more than make explicit a limited baseline requirement that is already reflected in jurisprudence.”

Adopting the change “would be a significant step backwards for individuals’ digital access and privacy rights in Ontario,” Kosseim said in a recent letter to EVAN MILLS, director of the Ministry of Health’s digital health program.

Kosseim recommends including other forms of records such as text files and JPGs, which can capture medical scans.

Otherwise, this could become a costly matter and “inadvertently create a new problem by undermining the government’s larg…