Ontario to Re-Table Amendments to PHIPA

On June 10th, 2015, Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (Ministry) announced its intention to introduce amendments to the province’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA).  The amendments that will be proposed are expected to be, in part, a revival of Bill 78 (the Electronic Personal Health Information Protection Act).  Bill 78 reached second reading before it died on dissolution of the 40th Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 2014.

According to the Ministry, amendments that would be proposed include those that:

• expand the 6 month limitation period that starts when an alleged offence is committed for prosecution to commence (the default under Section 76 of Ontario’s Provincial Offences Act);

• raise the fine for offences under PHIPA from $50,000 to $100,000 for individuals and $250,000 to $500,000 for organizations;

• institute mandatory reporting of health-related privacy breaches to Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, and in some cases, regulatory colleges;

• clarify the authority of health care providers to collect, use, and disclose personal health information.

In order to modernize PHIPA, the Ministry also intends to propose new requirements specifically directed towards electronic health records.

For more information, see news reports by the CBC and the Toronto Star.