Note: the facts from the perspective of the OHA; references patient safety, communication, data sharing
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Facts on FOI and Hospitals' Quality of Care Records
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Facts on FOI and Hospitals' Quality of Care Records
"I’m going to use today’s blog to address an issue that has recently generated a great deal of controversy: whether Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) should be amended to protect a specific, narrow and well-defined class of information created by hospitals for the purposes of quality improvement.
Schedule 15 of Bill 173, Better Tomorrow for Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2011, proposes to exempt, from the FIPPA, “information provided to, or records prepared by, a hospital committee for the purpose of assessing or evaluating the quality of health care and directly related programs and services provided by the hospital.” Bill 173 is currently being considered by the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs (SCFEA). This proposed amendment would align Ontario with other jurisdictions in Canada, as well as the United Kingdom and Australia, with respect to the treatment of quality of care information.
Without this kind of protection documented, conversations that health care professionals regularly have about enhancing patient care, as well as documents developed relating to quality, safety, and risk management, may be subject to public disclosure. This would have a chilling effect on the willingness of hospital staff to identify or comment on patient care and quality issues.
To read our submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs respecting this amendment to FIPPA, click here.
Ontario hospitals unequivocally support openness and transparency; they also support continuous quality improvement. They are keen to strike an appropriate balance between improving care and improving access to information.
The proposed amendment has been criticized by organizations that either do not fully understand its purpose, or are deliberately trying to mislead the public. This has caused confusion about why these protections are necessary, which is incredibly unfortunate.
For me, the fundamental question is, do patients want to be treated in hospitals where issues of quality and safety are examined and discussed by hospital staff on a daily basis, or in ones where they are not? If the answer to the question is “yes, safety and quality matter,” then it is critical to support this amendment. The OHA does, and so do individuals like patient safety expert Dr. Ross Baker from the University or Toronto, as do organizations like the Ontario Medical Association.
We have created a special webpage to explain the truth about the amendment, why it is necessary, and why we support it. You can access it at www.oha.com/thetruth. I encourage you to visit it to learn more."
Tom Closson
(OHA)
