Public Health Privacy Practices and Information

Region of Waterloo Public Health and Paramedic Services is a health information custodian that must comply with Ontario's Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) to ensure that your personal health information is protected. PHIPA provides rules on the collection, use, retention, disclosure and disposal of personal health information.

What is personal health information?

It is information that identifies you and relates to your health or health care, including:

Your name, address, date of birth or Health Card number
Health-related assessments like individual or family health history, test results, or information needed to make a service plan
Information related to eligibility or payments for services

How is personal health information used by the Region of Waterloo?

Region of Waterloo Public Health and Paramedic Services collects only the personal health information that is needed to deliver our services. We collect this information from clients or people who can legally act on their behalf, health care providers, and other authorized parties. This information could be collected through phone calls or in-person conversations, written forms, and digital communications.

Depending on the service you receive, we may also use your information for:

paying for your treatment or care
planning, delivering, and evaluating our services
complying with legal requirements
research, as approved by our Research Ethics Board
notifying you about an appointment
client satisfaction surveys

Your personal health information will be shared with other health care providers only if they are involved in your health care.

There are times when we are legally allowed or required to collect or share your personal health information without your explicit agreement to do so. These times include:

When the information is necessary for providing care, and it is not reasonably possible for us to get your consent in a timely manner.
When there are reasonable grounds to believe that sharing your information is necessary to eliminate or reduce a significant risk of serious bodily harm to yourself or others.
A legal proceeding or pursuant to a summons, subpoena or court order.
Mandatory reporting under statutes, such as the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, the Health Protection and Promotion Act, or the Coroners Act.

How do we protect and store personal health information?

We are required and committed to keeping your personal health information private, safe and secure. We follow strict privacy laws and procedures:

Staff sign confidentiality agreements yearly
Access to personal health information is limited to staff who require it for their work
We have strong privacy policies and provide training
We secure paper and electronic records and do privacy checks
We keep information only as long as it is needed for the purpose it was collected, or as required by law
Unneeded papers are shredded securely, and electronic records are deleted
We use secure electronic information systems and provincial shared databases. Some examples include:
- OceanMD for securely booking appointments, communicating health information and sending reminders to clients
- Practice Solutions Suite by TELUS Health is used to store a digital version of a patient’s chart.
- Panorama for recording, tracking and managing immunization records
- The Integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) for reporting and surveillance of Diseases of Public Health Significance in Ontario.
- Oral Health Information Support System (OHISS) for dental and vision screening recordsHCD-ISCIS (Integrated Services for Children Information System) for the Healthy Babies Healthy Children Program
- Clinical Connect for real-time access to clients’ electronic medical information from various sources like hospitals, home & community care services and Regional cancer programs
- Hedgehog Environmental Systems for management of information from the Public Health Inspection program.
- Ontario Laboratory Information Systems to manage lab results and reports

You can help protect your health information by using a secure internet connection when you submit information electronically. Avoid using public internet for sending sensitive information.

What are my options and rights?

You have the right to decide how your personal health information is used or shared. Unless we have a legal requirement to share information, you can refuse or withdraw your agreement to allow us to collect, use or disclose your personal health information. If you choose, you can also receive our clinical services without presenting your health card.

If you decide to withhold your information, it may limit our ability to meet your needs.

You have the right to request copies of or make corrections to your personal health records. You also have the right to know who has viewed your personal health records, and you can do this by requesting a privacy audit.

For more information about our privacy practices, or to raise a concern, please contact us:

Digital Health and Analytics

Region of Waterloo Public Health
99 Regina Street South
Waterloo, ON, N2J 4V3
Telephone: 519-575-4400
TTY: 519-883-2427
Email: ROWPHEPrivacy@regionofwaterloo.ca

If you are not satisfied with our service, you have the right to address complaints and concerns to the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s office of Ontario:

Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
2 Bloor Street East Suite 1400
Toronto, ON M4W 1A8
Telephone: 416-326-33-33 / 1-800-387-0073
Email: info@ipc.on.ca
www.ipc.on.ca