Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner
August 9, 2012

Information and Privacy Commissioner Ed Ring on Eastern Health’s Response to Recommendations in the Commissioner’s Report on Fee Complaint Under the Personal Health Information Act

Information and Privacy Commissioner Ed Ring issued a Report on a Fee Complaint under the Personal Health Information Act (PHIA) on July 17, 2012 (Report PH-2012-002). The Report resulted from a complaint that Eastern Health had charged an unreasonable fee to a person for access to a record of his own health information. This Report can be viewed in its entirety, here: www.oipc.nl.ca/pdf/ReportPH2012_002_EasternHealth.pdf. (285 KB) Since releasing this Report last month, the Commissioner has received a response from Eastern Health indicating that it has made significant amendments to its fee schedule and will be following most of the recommendations outlined by the Commissioner.

Commissioner Ring offered the following comments: “I am pleased with the progress made by Eastern Health through this reduction in fees towards facilitating better access to personal health information. Citizens are becoming more engaged in the management of their own health care, and it is their right under law to be able to access information about their own care and treatment. The law also allows custodians of personal health information to charge a reasonable fee, however such fees are not meant to be a barrier or deterrent to the right of access.”

- 30 -

Media contact:
Ed Ring
Information and Privacy Commissioner
709-729-6309

2012 08 09                                    1:05 p.m.