Release of Information 101

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Meghan Davenport in Blog, Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security Series Webinar

Privacy, Confidentiality, Security for Medical Offices©

Release of Information 101

Release of information is a critical part of practice management. Patients have the right to access their records and request that it be shared with other healthcare providers and third parties. It is your job to ensure accuracy, timeliness, and security.

The improper release of information can be catastrophic for your clinic. Do you have policies and procedures and training for your staff?

Attend this webinar, Release of Information 101, to help your clinic identify the 4 most common scenarios for release of information, and how to build strong ROI processes.

Pssst – if you are a member, click this link for an EXCLUSIVE coupon. Not a member? Become one!

This webinar will teach you about:

Notification
Valid consent criteria
Duty to assist
Expressed wishes not to disclose information
Document the release
Request records from other practices
Release records of minors
Automation tools you may be able to use

Register for the Webinar!

Release of Information 101

Tuesday June 17th, 2014 12:00pm – 1:00pm MST

Live webinar with Jean Eaton, the Practical Privacy Coach and Practice Management Mentor.

Discussion, resources, and template procedures that you can use right away!

Replay will be available for 1 week. Register today!

The Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security series is a set of webinars that include topics such as privacy awareness, privacy breaches, and email with patients. Seminars last from an hour to an hour and a half, and cover important information for new patient care providers and support staff, as well as practice managers, healthcare providers, or trusted vendors who support healthcare practices. Privacy, Confidentiality, Security for Medical Offices© series is hosted by Jean Eaton (the Practice Management Mentor) of Information Managers Ltd.

Health Information Act, healthcare, Practical Privacy Coach, practice management, Practice Management Mentor, release of information, templates

Privacy Awareness and HIA for Primary Care Clinics

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Meghan Davenport in Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security Series Webinar

Privacy, Confidentiality, Security for Medical Offices©

Privacy Awareness and HIA for Primary Care Clinics

Privacy is a hot-button topic for many people today. While we may insist on our personal privacy on-line, being privacy aware in health care is just as important, for patients and health care providers.

As a primary care clinic, do you know how to keep the personal information of your patients and staff privacy, confidential, and secure? If not, you may required to pay a huge fine and suffer the loss of trust from your patients.

Attend this fun and informative webinar, Privacy Awareness and HIA for Primary Care Clinics, to understand key principles of privacy, confidentiality, and security.

Pssst – if you are a member, click this link for an EXCLUSIVE coupon. Not a member? Become one!

This essential introduction for new patient care providers and support staff, and an excellent refresher for everyone else, will include:

privacy principles
important 2010 and 2013 amendments to the Health Information Act
new Alberta Health Act
safeguards
privacy reaches

Register for the Webinar!

Privacy Awareness and HIA for Primary Care Clinics

Tuesday July 15th, 2014 12:00pm – 1:30pm MST

Live webinar with Jean Eaton, the Practical Privacy Coach and Practice Management Mentor.

Discussion, resources, and template procedures that you can use right away!

Replay will be available for 1 week. Register today!

The Privacy, Confidentiality and Security Series include topics such as privacy awareness, privacy breaches, and email with patients. Seminars last from an hour to an hour and a half, and cover important information for new patient care providers and support staff, as well as practice managers, healthcare providers, or trusted vendors who support healthcare practices. Privacy, Confidentiality and Security© series is hosted by Jean Eaton (the Practice Management Mentor) of Information Managers Ltd.

employee training, Health Information Act, healthcare, Practical Privacy Coach, Practice Management Mentor, primary care, privacy awareness

Doing a PIA for your practice is easy!

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Meghan Davenport in PMN Replay

Replay of our live event recorded May 1, 2014

Doing a Privacy Impact Assessment for your practice is easy!

an interview with Jean Eaton of Information Managers Ltd.

Are you opening a new clinic or establishing a new health services program? Are you changing how you collect and use personal information, implementing an Electronic Medical Records (EMR), or transition to a new EMR provider? Are you sharing information with a Primary Care Network or other health program? Jean Eaton, the Practical Privacy Coach, will give you an overview of the Privacy Impact Assessment process, including:

what is a Privacy Impact Assessment
Document Management Tip: What is a Privacy Impact Assessment? For Chiropractors
when do you need a Privacy Impact Assessment
how to plan a Privacy Impact Assessment

Resources: What is a PIA?

What is a PIA? What is a PIA? You Tube Video

E-course: How to do a PIA – coming Fall 2015.

E-course: How to do a PIA

Replay: (if you are unable to view the slides below, please click here. If you have any other technical issues, send us an email) Replay: Audio

Replay: Slide and Audio

Health Information Act, healthcare, PIA, Practical Privacy Coach, Practice Management Mentor, Privacy Impact Assessment

New Offer: Customized Privacy Awareness Training

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Meghan Davenport in Uncategorized

Information Managers is excited to offer a new training program that will be cost and time effective for a variety of teams and offices, and will provide quality consistent privacy and security awareness to your current and new employees and contractors.

You can have exclusive access to a customized privacy awareness webinar that your team can access on demand. This permits immediacy to new employees and can be easily included in the orientation period. The webinar will be approximately 1 1/2 hours in duration and include handouts, and pre- and post-training tests that you administer.

Privacy and Security Awareness Training Webinar

The standard webinar content includes:

What is privacy, confidentiality, and security?
What is the Health Information Act (HIA)? Includes summary of important 2010 and 2013 amendments.
What is the Personal Information Protection Act?
What is Alberta Health Act?
What are HIA Privacy Principles?
What is Health Information?
To whom does the HIA apply?
What is Netcare? Review of authorized use.
What are Safeguards – Administrative, Physical, and Technical?
What are Expressed Wishes of Individual?
What is a Privacy Breach?

Some customization of the content can be made to make it even more relevant and useful to your organization.

The webinar may include a pre-recorded audio introduction and conclusion by your Privacy Officer, Manager, CEO or designate to further customize the training to your organization.

Your organization will receive the web link to the webinar, electronic copy of participant handouts and quiz that you may use up to 1 year for current and future training needs. This is licensed for your exclusive use – you cannot give or sell this to another party. You can choose to post this to your internal website or computer network, or Information Managers can host this for you to access on demand.

$300.00 +GST. Includes handouts, 1 year licensed access to Privacy Awareness Training webinar.

Yes! Contact me to create my customized Privacy Awareness Webinar!

Purchase Customized Privacy Awareness Training

Health Information Act, healthcare, Practical Privacy Coach, privacy, privacy by design, training

What’s On Your Privacy & Security List for 2014?

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Jean Eaton in Blog, Past Events

Time to update your Privacy Management Program plan for 2014!

Complimentary Bonus Webinar

Clinic Manager’s Privacy & Security Top 10 List

Includes: Email security, mobile devices, managing vendor agreements, privacy breaches, privacy officer role and responsibility training and more!

Ideal for clinic manager, practice manager, privacy officer in any healthcare setting – a check list of key tasks important to your Privacy Management Program. Resources and links for additional information.

Tuesday January 14th, 2014
12:00 pm—1:00 pm MST

best practice, clinic manager, Health Information Act, healthcare, practice manager, privacy, privacy and security, privacy by design, privacy management program, training

Pharmacist Used Health Information for Personal Reasons

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Meghan Davenport in Blog

A Calgary pharmacist has been cited for using the health information of a patient in an attempt to establish a personal relationship with her.

The woman complained to the Information and Privacy Commissioner, alleging that the relief pharmacist employed at a pharmacy in Calgary, had contacted her twice by phone and attempted to “friend” her on Facebook.

The Health Information Act (HIA) prohibits employees from using health information for purposes not required to do their job. The investigation by the Privacy Commissioner found that the pharmacist misused health information, and that the pharmacy manager had failed to provide privacy and security training to the pharmacist.

The pharmacy had access to privacy policies and training but the pharmacist in question was not made aware of these policies by the pharmacist manager. The investigation concluded by reinforcing the need for following through on administrative and technical safeguards and training for all staff.

Do you provide privacy training for all of your staff – including professional healthcare service providers? How do you document that each staff has received the training? How often do you re-fresh or update the training? A privacy management program is an important part of your responsibility as a healthcare provider, practice management and business owner. See our training programs for additional resources you can use right away.

For more information, check out the full OIPC Investigation Report H2013-IR-02

You can also read the Calgary Herald article (Dec 17, 2013) here

Alberta, breach, complaint, Health Information Act, HIA, OIPC, privacy, privacy breach

Alberta Netcare: What are your Patient Rights?

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Jean Eaton in Blog

Primary Care Providers may expect their patients to be asking more questions about Health Information in Netcare. Review this information and your policies and procedures with your staff so that you know how to respond.

In order to mark Data Privacy Day 2013 (January 28, 2013), the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, Jill Clayton, has announced a new initiative to inform Albertans about their privacy rights.

Under the authority of the Health Information Act (HIA), your health information is available through the province-wide electronic record system named Alberta Netcare. Netcare is a network of information systems that allows authorized users to see prescriptions, lab results, diagnostic images, and hospital reports. It is used throughout Alberta in hospitals, and in medical clinics and pharmacies.

Consent to have your health information in Netcare is not required by law, but you do have rights that allow you to exercise privacy control.

With the provincial electronic health record system, Alberta Netcare, you have the right to:

Know why your health information is collected and whether it is available in Netcare
Know what information about you is in Netcare 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
Request 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

See the OIPC webpage and contact information, visit: http://www.oipc.ab.ca/pages/HIA/NetcareKnowYourRights.aspx

To view the News Release from the OIPC, visit: http://www.oipc.ab.ca/Content_Files/Files/News/NR_Netcare_Know_Rights_Jan_2013.pdf

access, Alberta, electronic health record, Health Information Act, Netcare, OIPC, patient rights, privacy

Charges laid under the Health Information Act

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Jean Eaton in Blog

A self-reported breach by an individual to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner resulted in an offence investigation being opened into suspicious access to health information. The completed investigation, after being referred to Crown prosecutors at Alberta Justice, led to thirty-one charges under the Health Information Act being laid for improperly accessing other individuals’ health information. Another charge was laid for inappropriate use of health information, another for inappropriate disclosure of health information, and one more charge for knowingly falsifying a record. In addition to these thirty-four charges under the Health Information Act, six charges were also laid under the Criminal Code.

The Calgary Herald reports that Brian Hamilton, OIPC Director for the Health Information Act, would only confirm the accused is not a doctor or other medical professional. The matter will be heard in Airdrie Provincial Court on Thursday, October 18, 2012.

The Edmonton Journal also reported that, in addition to the charges under the Health Information Act, the accused may face up to six Criminal Code charges.

Each organization has a responsibility to ensure that their employees (affiliates) receive education and training in their roles and responsibilities under the HIA. Information Managers can help you by providing training on-site and now by webinar. Click here for more information.

For more information, see:
the OIPC Website (http://www.oipc.ab.ca/Content_Files/Files/News/NR_Oct_2012.pdf)

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Charges+laid+improper+access+health+files/7400003/story.html

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Alberta+Justice+lays+charges+improperly+accessing+health+information/7399425/story.html

access, Alberta, complaint, disclosure log, Health Information Act, HIA, improperly accessing health information, OIPC, privacy, privacy breach, training

Calgary pharmacy found in violation of patient privacy rules

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Jean Eaton in Blog

Remember the Privacy Principles – least amount of information, on a need to know basis? This recent investigation report from the OIPC reminds us to review our practices to collect information from patients to ensure that we are meeting our best practice standards.

An investigation into a southwest Calgary Co-op pharmacy has found its practice of collecting information on the immune status of an individual when they seek administration of an injection contravenes the Health Information Act.

A patient of the pharmacy contacted the privacy commissioner in April 2012 after he was presented with a form that asked if he had a condition that affects the immune system when he went to the Co-op Shawnessy Centre Pharmacy to receive a vitamin B12 injection.

The patient feared being stigmatized due to an immune disorder that he suffered from, and felt that the amount of information being demanded was excessive. He filed a complaint after being refused treatment without providing the information.

The Health Information Act specifies that custodians must only collect the most limited amount of health information to carry out an intended purpose.

For more information, see:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Calgary+Pharmacy+found+violation+patient+privacy+rules/7346243/story.html

complaint, Health Information Act, HIA, OIPC, privacy, privacy principles

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Privacy, Confidentiality, Security for Medical Offices©

Release of Information 101

Privacy, Confidentiality, Security for Medical Offices©

Privacy Awareness and HIA for Primary Care Clinics

Doing a Privacy Impact Assessment for your practice is easy!

Privacy and Security Awareness Training Webinar

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