At the Student Health and Wellness Centre, we are committed to protecting the privacy rights of all members of the University community under our care. By using the services of the Student Health and Wellness Centre, you are consenting to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal health information (“PHI”) as described in this notice. Your PHI will only be collected, used, or disclosed in compliance with University Procedure 20-9 Handling of Personal Health Information, in conjunction with Policy 90.
The Student Health and Wellness Centre employs health care practitioners and is subject to the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA). PHIPA is Ontario’s health-specific privacy legislation. It governs the manner in which PHI may be collected, used, and disclosed within the health care system. It also confirms a student’s right to access and correct their PHI.
Here are the Student Health and Wellness Centre personnel who are authorized to access specific PHI to do their jobs:
- Practitioners who provide care, such physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, mental health/addiction counselors, case workers, and psychologists.
- Administrative staff, such as uOttawa financial officers and other trainees and volunteers.
We ensure that the confidentiality and security of all PHI held in the custody and control of the Student Health and Wellness Centre is protected from theft, loss, and unauthorized collection, use, or disclosure, by applying the following safeguards:
- We regularly review access to health records and we restrict access to such records to only authorized personnel who need access to do their jobs.
- We conduct audits and complete investigations to ensure our personnel are not accessing more student information than is necessary to do their jobs.
- We train our personnel to protect your privacy and to only use your PHI for the purposes you have consented to.
- We regularly remind our personnel of their legal obligations when it comes to handling PHI.
- We provide our personnel with secure facilities, locked cabinets, and secure methods for the storage and disposal of health information.
- We ask all new personnel to sign a confidentiality agreement that outlines their obligations and we renew their confidentiality agreements on a regular basis.
- We will only store PHI for as long as the law requires us, with certain exceptions.
- We use the Telus CHR Electronic Medical Record system to document and store your PHI. For more information about Telus CHR, please review the Telus CHR Privacy Policy (PDF, 256kB).
Collection of Your Personal Health Information
The Student Health and Wellness Centre only collects the PHI needed to provide care or assist in providing care to you. We usually collect PHI directly from you as a student, such as your name, address, date of birth, health insurance number, and medical history. This information may be provided by others acting in your interest and, with your consent or in certain circumstances related to your care, the Student Health and Wellness Centre may also collect PHI about you indirectly.
If we have obtained your consent or if it is permitted by PHIPA, we may collect your PHI from sources outside of the Student Health and Wellness Centre. Unless told otherwise by yourself or your authorized substitute decision-maker, and so long as it is for health care purposes, we can assume your implied consent to collect your PHI from other health care practitioners who are in your circle of care.
Collection, Use and Disclosure of Your Personal Health Information
The Student Health and Wellness Centre (“SHWC”) uses and discloses your PHI to:
- Provide or assist in providing you with care or treatment.
- Refer you to a specialist or a medical professional outside of the SHWC.
- Educate our personnel, volunteers, students and other trainees.
- Conduct research with your consent or with appropriate Research Ethics Board approval.
- Obtain payment for your care or treatment (OHIP, WSIB, private insurance or other).
- Compare it with demographics and faculty information to improve the quality and efficiency with which we provide health care services.
- Plan, administer and manage the Student Health and Wellness Centre’s activities.
- Comply with the law and its regulations.
- Link demographic data as well as program and year of study information from the university student information system with limited information about your visit (e.g. date, wait times and reason for visit) for the purpose of improving the quality and efficiency of the SHWC health care services. Information used for this purposed will always be protected. All of your personal information will be removed from the final data set used for this purpose which there will be no way to link the data to any individual.
There are health care practitioners outside of the Student Health and Wellness Centre who may request access to your health record. We may assume your implied consent to disclose your PHI to these health care practitioners if they are actively part of your circle of care. You or your legal representative may instruct the Student Health and Wellness Centre to exclude certain health care providers from your circle of care. We will not disclose your PHI to health care providers outside of your circle of care without your consent unless permitted or required by law. We will never disclose your PHI to your professors, TAs, or other employees of the University without your express written consent.
Access and Correction
To request access to, or correction of, your PHI records, or for more information about our privacy practices, please contact the Access to Information and Privacy Office of the University of Ottawa at:
Access to Information and Privacy Office
550 Cumberland (M407)
Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
[email protected]
Tel. : 613-562-5800 (1851)
www.uottawa.ca/aipo
You are also entitled to file a complaint with the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario:
Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
2 Bloor St. E., Suite 1400
Toronto ON M4W 1A8
Phone: (416) 326-3333 or 1 800 387-0073
Fax: (416) 325-7539