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 Faculty Wellness Program 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 how PHI may be collected, used, and disclosed within the health care system. It also confirms a client’s right to access and correct their PHI.

Here are the Faculty Wellness Program personnel who are authorized to access specific PHI to do their jobs:

• Practitioners who provide care such as registered psychotherapist.
• Administrative staff, such as uOttawa Intermediate Coordinator, Administrative Support Faculty Affairs, Manager, Faculty Affairs.
• Academic leads, Director of Learner Wellness, Assistant Dean, Faculty Wellness Program.
• Access to session notes is restricted to registered psychotherapist only.
• We ensure that the confidentiality and security of all PHI held in the custody and control of the Faculty Wellness Program 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 client 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 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).

The Faculty Wellness Program only collects the PHI needed to provide care or assist in providing care to you. We usually collect PHI directly from you as a client, such as your name, address, date of birth, 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 Faculty Wellness Program 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 Faculty Wellness Program. 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.

The Faculty Wellness Program 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 Faculty Wellness Program.
• Educate our personnel, volunteers, students, and other trainees.
• Conduct research with your consent or with appropriate Research Ethics Board approval.
• 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 Faculty Wellness Program’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 Faculty Wellness Program health care services. Information used for this purpose 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 Faculty Wellness Program 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 Faculty Wellness Program 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.

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)