Alberta Health Services (AHS) is authorized to collect your personal information by Section 33(a) & 33(c) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act
What We (AHS Medical Affairs) Collect:
Medical Affairs is the portfolio within AHS that manages the processes by which health professionals apply to join the AHS Medical Staff. Medical Affairs stores and collects a variety of personal information about members of the Medical staff in order manage practitioners’ access to a wide range of AHS clinical and workforce systems.
The information we collect is required primarily to manage your work relationship with AHS. This information may include: your name, date of birth, license information, address, billing information, phone number, email address, work history, home address, emergency contact information, and any other information about your work with AHS.
Information will be collected directly from you except in limited situations when FOIP authorizes us to indirectly collect this information (for example references).
How We Use Your Information:
Your personal information will be used primarily to manage your work relationship with AHS. This includes for example include recruitment, contracting and compensation, internal personnel management, auditing of system access, workforce recognition programs, workplace health and safety programs, etc. Some examples are listed at the end.
Your personal information will always be used in the least identifiable way appropriate to the use.
How We Protect Your Information:
All AHS staff are required to complete mandatory privacy and information security training. We also restrict access to your records to those indivudals who need access to manage your relationship with AHS. We track and monitor who is accessing your information in order to make sure information policies are being followed.
Who Can Use/Disclose Your Information:
Access is restricted to only those who require it for their job role and responsibility. This may include contracted partners who have obligations to protect your information. There are some situations where FOIP permits us to share your personal information without consent such as ‘business card’ information or if when acting as a representative of AHS and your name is captured in a record.
Your Rights
FOIP gives you the right to:
- Access your personal information – processes are established.
- Request a correction or amendment of your personal info.
- Know why your information is collected, used and disclosed.
- Request an independent review of decisions made by AHS regarding access to or correction of your personal information within 60 days of being notified of the decision.
Who to Contact for Questions:
Executive Director Provincial Medical Affairs
Southport Tower, 10301 Southport Lane SW
Calgary, AB
Phone: 1-888-705-1581
Email: CMO@ahs.ca
Examples of How AHS Uses Medical Staff Information:
The following are the most common examples (but not the only examples) of why AHS needs to collect personal information from members of the Medical Staff.
| Data Point |
AHS Use |
| Names |
- Identity verification.
- Creation and maintenance of AHS-provisioned systems like Connect Care, including audit of appropriate use of those systems.
|
| Professional College Registration Number |
- Identity verification.
- Confirmation of licensure to provide activities under the Health Professions Act (Alberta).
- It may be shared by Medical Affairs with other AHS portfolios, including IT and Human Resources, to facilitate internal data matching between systems.
|
| MINC |
- AHS is a licensed user of the Medical Identification Number of Canada (MINC).
- For physicians, MINC is used for identity verification as a unique, life time identifier.
- It may be shared by Medical Affairs with other AHS portfolios, including IT and Human Resources to facilitate internal data matching between systems. It may also be shared with other licensed users to facilitate communication and operation of programs (for example, to share information with the Alberta Medical Association to facilitate the Physician Locum Services Program or with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta if there are registration number discrepancies).
|
| Phone Number(s) |
- Communication from AHS about: your Medical Staff Appointment and/or Clinical Privileges; system planning initiatives, such as Connect Care implementation; Emergency Preparedness/Disaster response; AHS Recognition programs.
- Phone numbers may be shared by Medical Affairs with other AHS portfolios but will not be shared with the public or outside organizations.
- Phone numbers collected by Medical Affairs and stored in the Appointment & Privileging system are not used for communication about individual patient orders/results or on call. Phone numbers for those purposes are collected through other means, for example though Health Information Management, Lab operations, Diagnostic Imaging operations, etc.
|
| Email Address(es) |
- In addition to an AHS-provided email, Medical Staff may provide AHS with up to two additional email addresses.
- These are used for non-patient specific communication (NOT patient results).
- Non-AHS email addresses are shared by Medical Affairs only with:
- The Zone Medical Staff Association where the Medical Staff Practitioner holds their primary zone. A Practitioner may opt out on an annual basis during the Annual Information Verification and Attestation (AIVA) process.
- AHS Human Resources to administer programs available to non-employees, such as long service recognition programs.
- Third parties contracted by AHS to deliver an organizational workforce or Medical Staff-wide initiative. One example is a survey company to perform a workforce engagement survey at AHS’ contracted request.
|
| Mailing Address(es) |
- A Medical Staff member is asked to provide a primary business address and a home address.
- These are used for planning purposes (for example, where to deliver Connect Care training), for AHS recognition award purposes, for official communication about an individual’s Medical Staff Appointment and/or clinical privileges that is not appropriate to email and as a final way to contact a physician should phone and email not otherwise work.
- Addresses may be used to audit the appropriate use of various AHS systems.
- Mailing addresses may be shared by Medical Affairs with Human Resources.
|
| Date of Birth |
- Determination of correct Periodic Review Frequency.
- Workforce forecasting.
- Supplemental identity verification, including for use to audit the appropriate use of various AHS systems.
|
| References |
- Evaluation of application to join the Medical Staff or to change privileges/sites of activity.
|
