Outsourcing of Medical Data Permitted Where Corporation Provides Reasonable Security

A BC court has found that the provincial government's outsourcing of personal information to a US-linked company is not an unreasonable infringement of privacy rights. Outsourcing to US-based corporations has provoked widespread concern in Canada and other countries following adoption of the USA PATRIOT Act, granting US federal enforcement agencies the authority to secretly compel disclosure of any tangible thing in the possession of a person or corporation. The BC provincial government had entered into an outsourcing contract with two Canadian subsidiaries of a US-based parent corporation in order to process medical fee claims. The claim documents sent to the contractor, among other things, would identify the doctor and the patient activity and could include details on the patient's office visit, diagnosis, or treatment. In denying the petition of the British Columbia Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU), the BC Supreme Court considered that while provincial privacy laws required the public custodian of the personal information to take reasonable security measures to protect the integrity and privacy of the data, the government had done all it could do within its powers to control the dissemination of information and ensure reasonable security. The Court also considered whether the statutory provisions and contractual obligations and restrictions satisfied the reasonable expectations of privacy under sections 7 and 8 of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. The Court found that while the contractors' US parent was undeniably subject to the USA PATRIOT Act and thus subject to the secret production provisions of that statute, the parent contractually had no direct access to the personal information in the possession of its Canadian subsidiaries. The contractual provisions, corporate structure and legislative provisions provided more than reasonable security with respect to the claim documents. The case name is BC Government Service Employees Union v British Columbia (Minister of Health Services) and the reasons for judgment are found at: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/Jdb-txt/SC/05/04/2005BCSC0446.htm For a news article on the case, see: http://maxout.notlong.com/ Summary by: Jason Young