Privacy
Each SIMS partner treats its patients' health information with respect and sensitivity, and entrusts SIMS with its patient records, in accordance with Ontario 's Personal Health Information Protection Act and other applicable laws.
Please review Our Commitment to Your Privacy for details about the services and safeguards that SIMS provides.
How We Integrate Information
The partnership builds privacy protection into all of its initiatives, ensuring that each is compliant with Personal Health Information Protection Act, other applicable laws, and industry best practices. Please see Our Projects for a list of projects and services provided to SIMS partners.
How We Protect Information
Preventing the unauthorized use and disclosure of personal health information, and protecting the integrity, security and confidentiality of the information, is paramount when developing and implementing new IM/IT systems and other shared initiatives.
A privacy framework built on best practices and the Personal Health Information Protection Act supports all of these information management activities. To protect privacy, SIMS employs the following safeguards:
- The SIMS Privacy Advisory Committee ensures that respect for personal health information remains at the forefront of the partnership.
- Privacy Impact Assessment and Threat Risk Assessment tools are used to:
- Understand the impact of the initiative on patient and client privacy;
- Identify opportunities to safeguard sensitive information from administrative, technical and physical standpoints;
- Ensure that project design, and information flow, complies with privacy laws, government regulations, and generally accepted privacy and security best practices;
- Ensure that the rights of patients, clients and heath care providers are upheld.
- SIMS partners share values, including a commitment to privacy and security. The SIMS Partnership Data Sharing Agreement and common policy framework document our agreement on how information is handled.
- All staff are trained to ensure awareness of their roles and responsibilities in protecting privacy and must sign confidentiality agreements prior to working at SIMS.
- All teams working with SIMS are required to safeguard information and comply with legislation.
- SIMS tracks the accesses, uses, disclosures, and transfers of personal health information as it flows across the partnership and notifies affected partners when suspicious or unauthorized activity is discovered.
- SIMS employs a variety of controls to protect the privacy and integrity of informations during transfer, storage, and use, including:
- Storage on secure servers at a secure site;
- Regular secuirty reviews to ensure that systems are functional and secure;
- Regular testing and backing up of systems.