On November 1st, most provisions of the Personal Health Information
Protection Act came into force in Ontario.  As you know, the Ministry of
Health and Long-Term Care sought the input from the archival / heritage
community on how best to meet the requirements of the legislation while
ensuring that health-care records of an archival nature could continue to be
collected and disclosed.  Implementation requirements specific to archives
are now included in a Regulation under the Act.

I encourage you to review the legislation available through the MOHLTC
website:
<http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/updates/archives/hu_03/priv_legi
slation.html>

The Regulation itself can be found here:
<http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/DBLaws/Regs/English/040329_e.htm>

In short, archives (or organizations with archival collections) may collect
records containing personal health information if they register with the
provincial Information and Privacy Commissioner.  They may disclose
information as if they were a health information custodian, meaning that
personal health information may be disclosed to the person to whom it
relates, subject to the requirements of PHIPA, or to a researcher in
accordance with a research plan approved by a research ethics board.

Note that these requirements do not pertain to the Archives of Ontario or to
municipal archives whose existing access regimes (i.e., the Freedom of
Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and the Municipal Freedom of
Information and Protection of Privacy Act) will govern the collection and
disclosure of personal health information.

The Archives of Ontario will be happy to work with other archival / heritage
organizations in the province if there is a need to clarify requirements.

______________________________________
Carolyn Heald
Information Policy Adviser
Archives of Ontario
77 Grenville Street
Toronto  ON  M5S 1B3

Tel:  (416)327-1568
Fax: (416)327-1992
e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
website:  http://www.archives.gov.on.ca