Required Disclosure
Physicians may be required by law, in a variety of circumstances, to disclose personal health information without the consent of the patient.
Mandatory Reports
Certain statutes have reporting provisions that may require the physician to provide information about a patient. Examples of legislation requiring mandatory reports include the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991; the Highway Traffic Act; the Child and Family Services Act; the Health Protection and Promotion Act; the Aeronautics Act; the Coroners Act and the Health Professions Procedural Code (See College policy on Mandatory Reporting).
Monitoring of Claims for Payment
In circumstances where the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is monitoring or verifying claims for payment for health care, or for goods used for health care that are funded wholly or in part by the Ministry, the physician must provide the patient’s personal health information to the Minister, upon his or her request.
Summonses, Subpoenas and Court Orders
In the course of litigation, physicians may be required by a summons, subpoena or a court order to disclose a patient’s personal health information and patient records. The physician should read the summons, subpoena or court order carefully and not do more than it requires. For example, a summons may require a physician to attend a court at a particular time and to take a specific patient chart. The summons does not authorize the physician to discuss the patient’s care with, or show the record to, anyone in advance of the court appearance.
Reports under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act
Under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, a physician who is providing health care to a worker claiming benefits under the workplace’s insurance plan must promptly give the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) the relevant personal health information that the WSIBmay require or that the patient requests that the physician provide to the WSIB. PHIPA permits the physician to report the required information to the WSIBand/or the employer, without the patient’s consent.11 If, however, the physician takes the position that the patient ought to be aware that his or her personal health information is being provided to the WSIB and/or the employer, the physician ought to notify his or her patient of that fact.
