Some people may feel like going to see a health professional very intimidating. Depending on the situation, people may feel like talking about their health as embarrassing or scary. Either situation can be very uncomfortable, however this information may be critical to your care. Health practitioners need to comply with laws and regulations to protect your health information, and the same goes for massage therapy.
Health practitioners in Ontario are required to be compliant with Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA). If any worker is involved in viewing or handling your health information (both inside and outside of Ontario), they must comply with the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, 2000 (PIPEDA). Both of which have laws to protect your health information.
A massage session is very personal, and comes with a high level to trust and respect. When you come into my treatment room, I consider it like a vault. Your information is kept confidential. You should feel comfortable, and more importantly safe, discussing your case so that your therapist can provide you with the best possible care because our number one priority is YOU.
All information disclosed in your file (including your health history and your therapist's treatment notes), any discussion in person or electronically, and any treatment information (date, time, type, etc.) is kept in confidence. These categories are more specific to massage therapy, so there are many others.
There are a certain situations where this information can be released, which requires consent:
Implied Consent: refers to sharing health information with another health professional for the purpose of providing care. For example, if your case requires a physiotherapist or a chiropractor, we may have a discussion about what we have noticed with your treatment so that we can decide on the best course of action for your care.
Express Consent: when someone is requesting information who is NOT a health professional and/or the purpose is to NOT provide care, your health professional is required to discuss this with you. A common example of this would be dealing with insurance companies. I have received a few calls from adjusters looking for client's specific date/costs of treatment. In that situation, I will be contacting you to explain the situation and obtain your consent to release the information.
Sometimes breaches happen. The laws prevent this as much as possible. But in modern society technology has come a long way and sometimes electronic data can be compromised. If your health information has been lost, stolen, or even viewed without consent, your health practitioner will have to contact you to inform you of the situation. They will describe what happened and explain that you have the right to file a complaint with the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. New laws under the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario state that we are required to file an incident report with the College to determine if further investigation is needed.
Protection of your health information is vital to the quality of care you receive. Not only legally, but this security also helps to build trust between you and your health practitioner so that they can provide better care for you.
For more information, please check out the following:
PHIPA: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/04p03
PIPEDA: https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/privacy-laws-in-canada/the-personal-information-protection-and-electronic-documents-act-pipeda/
Privacy Commissioner of Ontario: https://www.ipc.on.ca/?redirect=https://www.ipc.on.ca/
Thank you for stopping by today and I hope this article helped you to understand our confidentiality code!
Reference:
What You Need to Know About Privacy Law: An Overview of the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 20041(PHIPA). (2016). Toronto, ON: College of Massage Therapists of Ontario. http://www.cmto.com/assets/What-You-Need-to-Know-About-Privacy-Law-2016-update-1.pdf
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