Protecting Personal Privacy
The Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) Program is committed to
protecting an individual's privacy and safeguarding the personal
information in its possession. When a request to fund benefits
is received, the NIHB Program collects, uses, discloses and retains
recipients' personal information, in accordance with the applicable
federal privacy laws and policies.
Privacy Code
Health Canada has developed a Non-Insured Health Benefits Privacy
Code, which represents a consistent approach to privacy and data
protection for personal information collected, used, disclosed
and retained by the Program. It ensures the NIHB Program's compliance
with the Privacy Act.
The objectives of the Privacy Code are:
- To set out the NIHB Program's commitments that will ensure
responsible and secure handling of personal information collected,
used, disclosed and retained for Program delivery, administration
and management; and
- To foster transparency, accountability and increased awareness
of the NIHB Program's privacy procedures and practices.
The Non-Insured
Health Benefits Privacy Code will be reviewed and revised
on an ongoing basis as Federal Government privacy policies, legislation
and/or program changes require. The Program would be pleased
to receive comments and suggestions on the Code at any time.
Comments received will be reviewed for possible incorporation
into a later version of the Privacy Code. Please refer to the Summary
of comments on the Privacy Code.
The NIHB Privacy Code applies to all Health Canada employees administering
and managing the NIHB Program. Organizations or groups administering
NIHB benefits through contribution agreements must comply with
privacy requirements found in the schedules and the confidentiality
clauses that form part of the Terms and Conditions of the agreement.
Health care professionals must respect the privacy codes of their
regulatory or licensing bodies.
Privacy Training
The NIHB Program has developed an on-line Privacy Training learning
tool. Privacy training is mandatory for NIHB employees dealing
with recipient's personal information. You may visit
the on-line privacy training section to learn more about how
personal data is protected.
Within the Privacy Training tool there is a Privacy
and Contribution Agreements section which provides information
to those who administer benefits on behalf of the federal government
through contribution agreements. It summarizes their responsibilities
regarding the protection of recipients' personal information in
accordance with confidentiality clauses in the agreements.
News Releases
Headline: Health Canada announces new approach to consent for
the Non-Insured Health Benefits
Date: February 2004
Location: Ottawa
Headline: Health Canada and the Assembly of First
Nations agree to extend deadline for client Consent Initiative
Date: July 2003
Location: Ottawa
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