N.S. news: Privacy breach at Nova Scotia Health

April 25, 2024admin

N.S. news: Privacy breach at Nova Scotia Health

A former employee at St. Martha’s Regional Hospital, in Antigonish, N.S., inappropriately accessed the personal health information of 2,690 people, according to a news release from Nova Scotia Health.

The health authority says the person responsible has been terminated and it is in the process of sending letters to those who were affected.

“Nova Scotia Health views this as a summary offence under the Personal Health Information Act and the RCMP are currently investigating,” reads the release.

“All those affected will hear directly from Nova Scotia Health and we will be available to discuss the details of these breaches with them.”

When asked what role the employee played at the hospital, Nova Scotia Health would only say it was not “clinical in nature.”

The health authority said suspicious activity was identified in September and the employee was immediately suspended. As the investigation unfolded, the employee was eventually fired in November.

Nova Scotia Health says registration, demographic and clinical information was accessed.

“While we maintain confidence in the ethical practices of employees throughout our organization, we are extremely disappointed that an employee of Nova Scotia Health would engage in activity of this nature,” reads the release.

When asked why it took so long to release this information to the public, Nova Scotia Health’s chief financial officer Derek Spinney said they needed time to figure out the scope of the breach.

“We had enough information initially to understand there was inappropriate activity,” said Spinney.

“We didn’t have a fulsome understanding of the magnitude.”

To that end, Spinney says the health authority used software to cast a net around potential breaches, and then an investigator would look at each individual record to see if there were signs it had been

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Health Information

April 24, 2024admin

Nova Scotia Health contacting 2,690 patients after privacy breach

Nova Scotia Health said it will be contacting 2,690 patients after their personal information was “inappropriately accessed” at Saint Martha’s Regional Hospital in Antigonish, N.S.

“We are extremely disappointed that an employee of Nova Scotia Health would engage in activity of this nature. Nova Scotia Health will not tolerate any unauthorized access or snooping,” Derek Spinney, the health authority’s chief financial officer and vice-president of corporate services, told reporters on Friday.

Spinney said an employee connected to the privacy breach was fired. Only one person is believed to be involved with the breach, Spinney said. He wouldn’t say what the person’s role was, but did reveal it was “not clinical in nature.”

The health authority said the suspicious activity was identified in September 2023 and the person was suspended immediately and removed from their role. The person was officially fired in November.

The reason these details are only being made public now is because the health authority said it needed to do a “fulsome investigation” to figure out whose data was compromised and what specific information was accessed.

“That’s why we’re spending a lot of time making sure we know exactly what was touched so that we can contact each of the 2,690 people individually to work through this with them,” Spinney said.

Registration, demographic and clinical info accessed

In a news release, the health authority said registration, demographic, and clinical information was accessed.

Clinical would include things like lab test results, imaging results and notes related to an emergency visit or inpatient stay.

Demographic information would include names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, health card numbers, emergency contact or next of kin, and the names of primary care providers. It would also include registration information, including the reason a person is at the hospital, their initial health assessment and the

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Health Information

March 27, 2024admin

Doctors Nova Scotia concerned about proposed changes to health information law

The organization that represents more than 3,500 physicians, medical students and residents in Nova Scotia is concerned with provisions in legislation introduced by the minister of finance on March 5 as part of the budget process.

Doctors Nova Scotia said clauses in the Financial Measures Act to amend the Personal Health Information Act would grant the minister of health and her department expanded access to the health records of Nova Scotians.

“The way that the legislation is written is quite broad and it’s not entirely clear the information they might be accessing,” Dr. Colin Audain, president of Doctors Nova Scotia, told CBC Radio’s Information Morning on Thursday.

The second last clause in the 35-page bill would amend the law governing health records by including an additional obligation for doctors and other care providers “to disclose personal health information to the minister or a person acting on behalf of the minister for the purposes of planning and management of the health system, resource allocation and creating or maintaining electronic health record programs and services.”

Audain said Health Department officials have told his organization that the purpose is to allow patients to access their own records through the YourHealthNS app the province launched last November.

The department also said it wants to collect aggregate information in order to better plan services or reallocate resources.

A woman with dark hair and glasses sits at a podium. — Michelle Thompson is Nova Scotia’s health minister. (Robert Short/CBC)

“As far as we know, the information that they’re looking for right now is fairly narrow, and it includes things like the date of a visit, the provider’s name, the reason for the visit and the results of diagnostic imaging, blood and other lab tests,” said Audain.

“But I think what we’re concerned about is the broad nature of the legislation, and the fact that if there were other

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Department Health

March 6, 2024admin

Halifax Lawyer Raises Health Concerns for Client in Nova Scotia Justice Dept. Sexual Abuse Case

A Halifax lawyer, Devin Maxwell, expresses profound concern over the health and safety implications for his client due to the extensive questioning planned by provincial lawyers in a civil sexual abuse lawsuit against Nova Scotia’s Department of Justice. Maxwell’s client is suing the government for abuse by Cesar Lalo, known as one of Nova Scotia’s most egregious pedophiles. Lalo, a former probation officer, was implicated in numerous cases of child abuse, leading to multiple civil lawsuits against him and the province, even after his death in 2019.

Unprecedented Legal Battle

The legal fight against Nova Scotia’s Department of Justice is intensifying as the case approaches the discovery phase, where Maxwell’s client will undergo questioning by government lawyers for two days. This procedure is part of a series of lawsuits following landmark rulings that found the province vicariously liable for Lalo’s actions, resulting in significant damage awards. Despite Lalo’s death, the lawsuits continue, highlighting the long-lasting impact of his crimes.

Concerns Over the Discovery Process

Maxwell’s worries stem from the potential psychological impact this extensive questioning could have on his client, who has spent a lifetime trying to repress memories of the abuse. The decision to allocate two full days for questioning has raised alarms, not only for Maxwell but also for the victim’s counsellor, both of whom fear for the client’s well-being. Maxwell questions the necessity of such a prolonged process, especially given the province’s previous commitments to sensitivity towards abuse victims.

Response from the Justice Department

In response to Maxwell’s concerns, the Justice Department emphasized its commitment to treating every claim with sensitivity and respect, while also conducting the necessary fact-finding to review claims. They encouraged Maxwell to bring his concerns directly to the department’s legal services division. Despite the ongoing legal challenges, the exact number of active

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Department Health

October 30, 2023admin

Former Nova Scotia Health data analyst says he was fired for speaking up

A data analyst who worked for Nova Scotia Health for four years says he was let go for speaking up about what he perceived as serious issues with the emergency department wait-time prediction project.

Jesse Yang said he escalated concerns about the data used in the project, both verbally and in writing, over the course of a year. He said he sought support from supervisors, Nova Scotia Health’s ethics department, human resources, and the Nova Scotia Office of the Ombudsman.

After his complaints, he stopped working on the project and was placed on a new project. Issues with his work performance were brought up at this time, and ultimately, his year-to-year contract wasn’t renewed.

Yang is now undergoing a Nova Scotia Labour Board arbitration under the Public Interest Disclosure Wrongdoing Act, arguing he experienced retaliation.

In his opening statements at the hearing Thursday, Killian McParland, Nova Scotia Health’s lawyer, said the health authority denies retaliating against Yang.

McParland said Yang’s complaint doesn’t fit the narrow scope of the Act, meaning the health authority doesn’t believe he was a whistleblower, and his contract wasn’t renewed due to poor work performance.

Emergency department wait-time tool

Nova Scotia Health’s online emergency department wait-time tool was introduced this June as a way to predict wait-times at 10 emergency departments across the province.

In a news release at the time, the health authority said the site is an “information tool” to give people an idea of how long they may need to wait for care.

It said the predicted wait-times posted are based on “recent data” and are “shown as an approximate range and are updated hourly.” The site also allows people to look up anticipated wait-times up to 12 hours ahead.

But Nova Scotia Health noted the wait-times are not guaranteed and “may not

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Health Care

July 26, 2023admin

Nova Scotia Health and IWK hiring 8 Mi’kmaw patient navigators

Nova Scotia Health and IWK Health Centre are introducing a new program that seeks to improve health care for Indigenous patients across the province.

The Mi’kmaw Indigenous Patient Navigator program is hiring eight navigators in regions throughout Nova Scotia.

The navigators will act as liaisons and support staff, helping to co-ordinate patient care for Indigenous peoples in the province, according to Aaron Prosper, Nova Scotia Health’s first-ever Indigenous health consultant.

He said these positions were created in collaboration with Mi’kmaw health leaders, the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, Mi’kmaw communities and Tajikeimɨk, a Mi’kmaw health and wellness organization.

When Prosper stepped into his role in 2021, he said launching the program was one of his top priorities.

“I really think it shows that, you know, with collaboration, you can make improvements, tangible improvements in Indigenous health,” he said.

Two of the navigators will work at the IWK and the other six at Nova Scotia Health across the Northern, Eastern, Western and Central zones. The program was approved in the province’s 2023-2024 budget, which included $1.9 million to improve equity in the health-care system.

Because Indigenous health falls under federal jurisdiction in the Indian Act, Prosper said Mi’kmaw and Indigenous peoples in Nova Scotia often fall through the cracks when it comes to provincial health care.

The positions are needed to help ensure “that all Indigenous folks have full access to all public services when they need them, no matter what,” he said. “Now, that unfortunately, admittedly, is not the reality. And so there’s a lot of work to sort of try to improve that.”

Brett MacDougall, vice-president of operations for Nova Scotia Health’s Eastern zone, said a lot of time, thought and Mi’kmaw community consultation went into crafting the job descriptions and job postings for the navigator roles.

A bald man in a grey suit jacket speaks at a microphone. — Brett MacDougall

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Department Health

May 20, 2023admin

Surgery wait list in Nova Scotia shrinking as procedures ramp up: Health Department – Halifax

By The Staff

The Canadian Press

Posted May 19, 2023 11:42 am

The Nova Scotia government says the Health Department’s wait list for surgeries is shrinking.

The department has issued a statement saying surgical teams across the province completed thousands more operations and procedures last year than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement says there were 1,873 more surgeries completed in the 2022-23 fiscal year than in 2019-20, and there were 4,863 more endoscopy and cystoscopy procedures completed last year than in 2019-20.

As a result, the surgical wait list has been reduced by more than four-thousand people in the last year, though the department did not say how many people remain on the list.

Health Minister Michelle Thompson says the shrinking wait list can be attributed to improved scheduling of operating rooms, new acute-care beds and an expanded partnership with the Halifax Vision Centre for cataract surgeries.

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As well, Thompson says the number of outpatient hip and knee replacement surgeries increased to 1,193 in 2022-23, up from 85 in 2019-20.

Those patients returned home to recover rather than being admitted to hospital, leaving beds available for others, the department said.

“Together, we are gaining ground and getting more Nova Scotians the surgeries and procedures they’ve been waiting for,” Thompson said. “We know there is more work to do to shorten surgical wait lists, but we are ready and willing to make the changes and investments needed to keep this momentum going.”

Click to play video: 'Report finds Nova Scotia has 2nd highest wait times for medical procedures in country'

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Report finds Nova Scotia has 2nd highest wait times for medical procedures in country

This report by The Canadian Press

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Health Information

February 4, 2023admin

Nova Scotia and Oracle Cerner Begin a New Era in Healthcare

New 10-year agreement to provide more efficient, secure, timely access to patient information

Halifax, NS – Feb. 1 , 2023 – The province of Nova Scotia, in collaboration with Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) and IWK Health (IWK), announced today a new 10-year agreement has been signed with Oracle Cerner to implement an integrated electronic care record across the province for the more than one million Nova Scotians. This technology can help improve the way health professionals use and share patient information.

The new modernization known in Nova Scotia as “One Person One Record” (OPOR), is intended to provide clinicians easier access to real-time health information anywhere and allow healthcare workers to spend less time at the computer and more time with their patients.

Like much of the world, Nova Scotia has dealt with health care challenges such as emergency department long wait times and provider waitlists. Real-time digital charting in Oracle Cerner’s technology at the point of care can help clinicians more quickly and more easily access important patient information including the most recent and historical laboratory data and diagnostic imaging results as they are making decisions on the next steps for care.

“The availability of a single information system that supports our care providers in delivering safe, more timely, and connected services should improve the quality of care received by patients and families while making their journeys more seamless,” said Dr. Krista Jangaard, president and CEO, IWK Health.

Health professionals in acute care facilities in Nova Scotia can use a digital closed-loop medication management process to help reduce prescribing errors, ensure allergy information is available, enable electronic prescription verification with pharmacy, and better documentation for auditing. This improvement to patient safety helps providers make sure the right medication is prescribed and given to the right patient, in the

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Tag: Scotia

Registration, demographic and clinical info accessed

Unprecedented Legal Battle

Concerns Over the Discovery Process

Response from the Justice Department

Emergency department wait-time tool