Your Personal Health Information
Accessing Your Own Personal Health Information
Under Ontario's Personal Health
Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA), you (or someone acting on your behalf i.e. a lawyer) have the right to access and request a copy of your personal health information including your health record.
If you would like to access your personal health information, please complete the Health Records Department Consent to Disclose Personal Health Information form. This form can be sent to the address below.
Is there a fee?
A minimum administrative fee of $30.00 applies to all requests over 20 pages. This includes pages 1 to 20. After the first 20 pages, any additional pages will cost $0.25 cents per page. This fee may also be charged when a search does not yield a return of a patient’s record.
The administrative fee covers the cost of the following:
- Receipt and clarification, if necessary, of a request for a record.
- Preparation of a response letter to an individual.
- Preparation of a record for photocopying, printing or electronic transmission.
- Packaging of the photocopied or printed copy of the record for shipping or faxing.
- If electronically stored, transmitting a copy of the electronic record instead of printing a copy.
Your health record may be provided to you in an electronic format (e.g., computer disk, USB, etc.) for an additional $10.00 fee (upon request).
Courier fees of $7.00 per package (including tracking) may apply. This fee is subject to change depending on the size of the package.
Requests will not be processed until the processing fee is received. Additional fees may be charged on top of the processing fee and must be paid prior to release of the records.
If you have questions about how to access your Personal Health Records, please call 613-721-2000 ext. 2802 or send an email to releaseofinfo@qch.on.ca.
How do I request medical images?
The Diagnostic Imaging Department processes requests for medical images. Requests can be made directly to the department by calling 613-721-4700 ext. 2701 for more information.
When will I receive my records?
Queensway Carleton Hospital is committed to processing your request in the shortest time possible, although we have 30 days to respond in accordance with PHIPA.
When a request is received, the Information and Privacy Office may contact you to clarify your request, if additional information is required.
Valid authorization
You may be required to provide us with valid photo identification or other proof of identity prior to receiving the personal health information.
- If you are a patient’s Power of Attorney or Substitute Decision Maker, please include the related documents with your request.
- For patients 12 years of age or older, a written request signed by the patient or the patient's substitute decision maker is required before a request can be fulfilled.
Custodial parents of children under 16 years of age can request records on their child’s behalf; please note that consent from both parents may be required.
Correcting Your Own Personal Health Information
If you believe that the personal health information in your medical record is inaccurate or incomplete, please contact our Health Records Department at 613-721-200 ext. 2802 or releaseofinfo@qch.on.ca.
You will be asked to complete and print a Correction Request Form which can be sent by mail along with valid authorization to:
Queensway Carleton Hospital
ATTN: Health Records Department – Release of Information
3045 Baseline Road
Ottawa, Ontario, K2H 8P4
For all other access or correction requests in the EHR, please refer to the eHealth Ontario website.
Consent Directives
You have the right to block access to your personal health record in the viewer by placing a consent directive (often referred to as a lock-box). It is best to discuss the implications of placing a consent directive with a member of your treatment team. Please note that a consent directive may be overridden with your express consent, or in other circumstances permitted by law. For more information, please contact our Information and Privacy Office at 613-721-2000 ext. 2915.
ConnectingOntario
The
ConnectingOntario ClinicalViewer is a secure, provincial
electronic health record (EHR) system that allows
Ontario clinicians, and
authorized members of their health care teams, to
access their patients’
personal health information (e.g. lab results,
diagnostic imaging reports,
discharge summaries, details of a prior visit to
the emergency or other
department). Access to the viewer is restricted to
those who provide or assist
with patient care. The program is funded and
overseen by eHealth Ontario. For more
information on the ConnectingOntario program
please visit www.ehealthontario.on.ca
Queensway Carleton Hospital is a contributing organization
and will provide its health care providers with access to the provincial EHR
through the ConnectingOntario ClinicalViewer. This is done to improve the
patient experience and ensure that hospital patients receive the care that we
would want
for our loved ones. Queensway Carleton Hospital, along with all other
organizations participating in the ConnectingOntario program, must follow all
applicable health privacy laws (including the Personal Health Information and
Protection Act,2004) as well as the EHR
privacy policies and procedures.
Inquiries and Complaints About
ConnectingOntario
For privacy-related inquiries and
complaints about Queensway Carleton Hospital’s participation in the
ConnectingOntario program, please contact our Information and Privacy Office at privacy@qch.on.ca. For all other inquiries and complaints about the EHR program or the
viewer, please refer to the eHealth Ontario website here.
For more information about Connecting Ontario, please read
their patient
information brochure.
Looking for information on
how to request hospital information? Please refer to the 'Access to Information' tab.