Released on June 27, 2017
eHealth Saskatchewan has committed to taking steps with Elections Saskatchewan (Elections SK) to address a privacy breach, in which information about individuals under the age of 16 was inadvertently provided to Elections SK from November 2015 to January 2017. Although general demographic information and health card numbers were provided, no clinical health information on individuals was shared.eHealth and Elections SK have had a data sharing agreement since August 2015, under which eHealth discloses the name, date of birth, Health Services Number (HSN), address and residency status of individuals 16 years of age and older, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a permanent register of voters.
“eHealth is committed to ensuring the privacy and security of personal health information, which is why we are taking this incident seriously and immediately informed the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner,” eHealth Saskatchewan CEO Susan Antosh said. “We extend our sincere apologies to those people affected by the breach.”
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s investigation report recommends that legislative changes should occur before eHealth continues to disclose information to Elections SK and recommends that eHealth publicly notify individuals whose information was disclosed. eHealth has received the Privacy Commissioner's report and has agreed to comply with the recommendations.
Anyone who is concerned that their personal information was shared with Elections Saskatchewan can contact eHealth's privacy office at 1-855-eHS-LINK (347-5465) or by email at privacyandaccess@ehealthsask.ca.
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For more information, contact:
Lisa Adam
eHealth Saskatchewan
Regina
Phone: 306-337-0976
Email: lisa.adam@ehealthsask.ca
Cell: 306-540-5816