COACH Privacy Guides now available for Healthcare Organizations from eHealth Ontario

I knew eHealth Ontario was licensing the patient portal guidelines from COACH, because I was working with the COACH Expert Group that was writing them when it was announced. The recent news announcement that all 3 privacy and security of personal health information guidelines are being offered for free to Healthcare organizations in Ontario is wonderful.  I am now working on updates to the 2011 EMR guideline and the special edition of implementing the EMR with a COACH Expert Group again. Unfortunately, I am not as much as an expert this time because a lot of it is about legislation - not my speciality.  I knew more about patient portals at the time.  If you work in healthcare, you can apparently download them for free here.  So far, however, the download has not worked for me.  Not sure what the problem is.  Maybe it recognized my name and somehow knew I already have copies of these:
http://www.ehealthontario.on.ca/en/privacy/guides/

Privacy Guides

The 2011 Guidelines for the Protection of Health Information is an easy-to-use guide that covers topics such as accountability, consent, collection and security safeguards. This guide reflects the core principles of the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information and the content is aligned with Canada Health Infoway requirements and standards (international and national) such as the ISO 27002 Security Management Standards.

• 2011 Guidelines for the Protection of Health Information
  A comprehensive resource on privacy and security best practices that helps health care professionals protect the PHI that they require to do their day-to-day work. This resource is designed as a stepping stone to help health care organizations address common concerns, avoid confusion and prevent misunderstandings related to the protection of PHI.
• Privacy & Security for Patient Portals 2012 Guidelines for the Protection of Health Information Special Edition
  Developed for use by those designing, implementing and maintaining a patient portal system, this helpful guide is appropriate for organizations of all sizes—from a physician’s office to a large hospital. Topics include: choosing a portal model, Canadian privacy legislation and privacy and security risks/controls related to patient portals.
• Putting it into Practice: Privacy and Security for Healthcare Providers Implementing Electronic Medical Records COACH Guidelines for the Protection of Health Information Special Edition
  Provides health care providers with up-to-date privacy and security considerations and best practices related to the procurement, implementation, setup and maintenance of an electronic medical record system in a community practice setting.

Privacy and Security for Patient Portals: 2012 Guidelines for the Protection of Health Information Special Edition

The COACH 2012 Special Edition "Privacy and Security for Patient Portals 2012 Guidelines for the Protection of Health Information Special Edition", has just been released. I got my web version copy in advance last week because I was a member of the Expert Group who initially drafted it.  The final product looks really good, and presents the hard work of the volunteer group really well. Highly recommended reading if you are at all thinking of implementing or using patient portals, otherwise known as electronic Personal Health Records.

Universal Health IDs?

This is a brilliant article by John Moehrke on his healthcare privacy and security blog.  It made me wonder if the Ontario healthcard ID could be used more universally.  I learned a few years ago that the healthcard number was ruled available for health record identification.  If anyone can confirm that, please let me know.