Health Record Access Rights and Protocols - Starting Places

What rights a person in Canada has to access their health records is a question that pops up on social media or in meetings that I'm in every few months. It did again yesterday, reminding me that even many health leaders aren’t familiar with this topic. Having pulled relevant references to respond to yesterday’s question (and with the caveat that I am neither a lawyer nor a certified health information professional), I thought it might be helpful to share them here too.

The Supreme Court weighed in on this issue many years ago. In McInerney v MacDonald, they stated that while the doctor (in this case) is the holder of the actual physical record,

“patients should have access to their medical records in all but a small number of circumstances.  In the ordinary case, these records should be disclosed upon the patient's request unless there is a significant likelihood of a substantial adverse effect on her physical, mental or emotional health or harm to a third party.”

The Canadian Medical Protective Association summarizes the judgement and its implications here. Provincial/territorial legislation and regulatory standards of practice (e.g. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Alberta) may also contain relevant requirements or guidance.

In my experience, knowledge of these expectations is uneven among healthcare providers who do not have ready access to health information expertise. Fortunately, many Information and Privacy Commissioners have information about access protocols on their websites (e.g. Ontario), as do provincial health professional associations (e.g. Doctors of BC). If you’ve run into challenges accessing your health information, I've found that it can be helpful to have this guidance handy.

In addition, increasingly, each of us also has the opportunity to access our health information online, as my former colleague Simon Hagens outlines in this blog post which includes a list of some of the major patient portals across the country.