The Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner ('OIPC') published, on 7 September 2022, a blog post addressing the cross-border sharing of personal health information. In particular, the OIPC explained that, in Saskatchewan, personal health information in the custody or control of trustees is governed by the Health Information Protection Act ('HIPA'), highlighting that, while Section 27(2)(b) of HIPA authorises the disclosure of personal health information for treatment purposes, the same does not limit who that personal health information may be shared with. As such, the OIPC clarified that a physician in Saskatchewan could disclose a patient's personal health information to another practicing in Alberta in the right circumstances. In addition, the OIPC noted that, as patients move in and out of Saskatchewan all the time, in some cases, it would be expected that their patient records would be transferred from one jurisdiction to another.

Further to the above, the OIPC pointed out that, if concerns exist about what information is or is not accessible by those on one side of the border versus the other in provincial systems, discussion should be held with those that make decisions regarding access to see exactly what barriers do or do not exist to facilitating that access, concluding that the OIPC may be engaged through the consultation process should there be an interest in exploring these issues.

You can read the blog post here.