Today I had the pleasure of making a presentation at annual summit PHIPA Connections on the Personal Health Information Protection Act (LPRPS). This year, the speakers addressed new issues regarding the management of personal health information during a pandemic. In my presentation, I shared some statistics for 2020 on the health sector, described recent changes in the LPRPS and presented our new guidance document for professionals in the healthcare sector, Privacy and Security Considerations in the Context of Virtual Health Care Visits. I hope this guide will prove useful to health information custodians who provide or intend to provide virtual health care to their patients.
Because of COVID-19, which comes with physical distancing guidelines, virtual healthcare has become a convenient alternative for caregivers to communicate with and provide care to their patients. Virtual healthcare includes digital modes of communication such as secure messaging services, telephone consultations and video conferencing.
In May 2020, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) conducted a survey among 1,800 Canadians and found that almost half of them had received and were very satisfied with virtual physician care. According to this survey, nearly half (46%) of people who had the opportunity to use virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic would prefer a virtual method as their first point of contact with their doctor over to come up. Considering the fact that this poll was carried out just two months after the start of the global pandemic, one would expect that proportion to be even higher today as people have increasingly adapted to their digital life.
Virtual health care is well received according to such studies, but it is important to consider the privacy and security risks posed by the technology used to deliver it. Ontario custodians should also be aware that the LPRPS applies to both virtual care and face-to-face care.
In addition to giving a brief reminder on the LPRPS, our Virtual Healthcare Guidance Document addresses various considerations for conducting safe videoconferencing sessions, and provides guidance to custodians to help their patients use electronic medical record keeping systems, including portals for patients.
According to numerous studies and discussion papers, virtual healthcare will be a lasting phenomenon. For example, according to a national survey conducted in September 2020 by Environics Research, 70% of Canadians agree that virtual healthcare is the future of healthcare. The CMA survey found that Canadians want virtual care options to be maintained, improved and expanded after the COVID-19 crisis.
Certainly, virtual healthcare is a valuable way to consult professionals for advice and find some peace of mind in our changing times. However, custodians must take the necessary technical, material and administrative precautionary measures to secure virtual healthcare platforms and thereby protect the privacy of their patients, now and in the future.
Because even if health care becomes virtual, patient trust must remain real.
On behalf of the IPC, I thank all those in the healthcare industry who work tirelessly to protect us.
Be well,
Patricia
This post is also available in: Anglais
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