The revelations last week of thousands of breaches of medical secrecy speak volumes about the shortcomings surrounding the protection of the confidentiality of Quebecers’ medical data. The status quo cannot continue.
To do this, the Association of Health Information Managers of Quebec (AGISQ) reiterates the need for a reform of the profession of medical archivist, whose role is essential in codification, confidentiality and security. information from medical records.
We are very concerned by the revelations of multiple breaches of medical secrecy with respect to the confidentiality of medical data of Quebec patients. It is clear that the management of personnel authorized to access this data is not adequately supervised and must be reviewed. With the few tools and means at our disposal, this situation is unfortunately not surprising.
Evolution
We call on the government to reform our profession that would extend and formalize our powers, thus allowing us to effectively fulfill our role as privacy watchdog in the health and social services network.
This reform would change the profession of medical archivist towards that of clinical information technician. Only such an evolution of the profession will allow us to have free rein to enforce the confidentiality of Quebecers’ medical data and put an end to the laxity surrounding their consultation currently observed.
Last Thursday, the Minister of Health, Mr. Christian Dubé, was also indignant about the revelations of non-respect of the confidentiality of medical data, calling for extensive logging of access to medical records to seize the extent of the phenomenon.
expertise
In this sense, AGISQ wishes to provide the Minister with its expertise and knowledge of the flaws in the system in terms of the confidentiality of medical information.
We offer our full cooperation to Minister Dubé so that we can identify the vulnerabilities of the current system and the one that will be implemented over the next few years and thus correct them. Note, for example, that in some establishments, the information systems do not respect logging since they are too outdated. It is time to act and better regulate the protection of patients’ medical data
Remember that the AGISQ has repeatedly pointed out to the government the current flaws in the system that threaten the confidentiality of medical data. More than ever, the revelations of flouted medical secrets demonstrate the need for a reform of the profession of medical archivist.
Alexandre Allard, President of the Association of Health Information Managers of Quebec