Personal Health Information Privacy and Access Act- New Brunswick, Part-10

Monitoring health care payments (45)

For the purpose of monitoring or verifying claims for payment for health care funded by the province, a custodian shall (at the request of minister) disclose to the minister personal health information without the consent of the individual (to whom the information relates). However, the disclosure should be reasonably necessary for that purpose.

Maintaining disclosure information (46)

When custodian discloses personal health information for health related purposes (without consent of the individual) then he/she make a note of the following:

  1. The name of the person to whom the custodian discloses the information
  2. The date and purposes of the disclosure
  3.   A description of the information disclosed

However, the above mentioned provision does not apply if the custodian discloses personal health information by permitting access to the information stored in the information system of the custodian provided when the information is accessed the database automatically keeps an electronic log of the following information-

  1. The user identification of the person who accesses the information
  2. The date and time the information is accessed and
  3. A description of the information that is accessed or that could have been accessed 

Medicare number 

The definition of personal health information includes the medicare number of the individual. Section 48 of PHIPAA provides that no person may require the production of an individual’s medicare number or collect or use an individual’s medicare number except a person that requires its production, collection or use for the following purposes- 

  1. For the provision of health care;
  2. To verify the individual’s eligibility to participate in a health care program or recieve a health care services;
  3. For the payment and management  of the healthcare system;
  4. To verify the individual’s eligibility to participate in the drug insurance plan under the Prescription and Catastrophic Drug Insurance Act;  
  5. To obtain proof of immunization under subsection 42.1 (1) of the Public Health Act order 

Although, a public body may collect and use an individual’s Medicare number, including the use to perform data matching, for the purpose of a research project approved –

  1. By a research review body under section 43 or
  2. In accordance with an agreement referred to in paragraph 43.1 (a)

An individual may refuse to provide his or her Medicare number to any person not authorized to require the production of the individual’s Medicare number to collect or use the individual’s Medicare number.     

This section further provides that when a person requests a Medicare number from an individual, the person shall advise the individual of his/her authority to do so.    

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