Nova Scotia Takes Lead in Health Record Privacy

Nova Scotians will be the first to benefit from a system that will emphasize an individual's privacy in the creation of electronic health records.

Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) announced today, Feb. 13, it will partner with the Nova Scotia Department of Health to develop a privacy toolkit that will be used by the health-care sector in the development of electronic health records across the country.

"Electronic health records play an important role for individuals using our health-care system," said Sarah Kramer, chief information officer, Department of Health. "Nova Scotians will be on the cutting edge of developing and benefiting from this system, which will incorporate leading privacy knowledge and techniques."

"Protecting privacy is fundamental to the creation of effective electronic health records," said Susan Hyatt, vice-president, portfolio management at Infoway. "This initiative supports our efforts to protect the security of information and the privacy of individuals, and the result will benefit all Canadians. When complete, the privacy toolkit will be available for other provinces to use."

Electronic health records provide a secure and confidential record of health history and care, including doctor's visits, hospital stays, prescription drugs, laboratory tests, and other key information that helps health professionals provide better care.

The privacy toolkit will give health-care professionals samples and reliable information to use when building their privacy programs. It will include privacy policies and principles from different jurisdictions, and summaries of providers' practice standards. Best practices will be identified on a national and international basis.

Infoway is an independent corporation whose members are federal, provincial and territorial deputy ministers of health. Its mission is to foster and accelerate the development and adoption of compatible electronic health information systems in Canada by investing strategically and working in partnership with governments, the health sector, the private sector and other stakeholders.

Information on Infoway is available on the Web site at www.infoway-inforoute.ca .