Alberta's health minister says suggestions that a new health bill will allow him to snoop on citizens' medical records are "ridiculous." Bill 46, an omnibus piece of legislation introduced last week, proposes putting the minister and Alberta Health in charge of who can access Netcare, which holds Albertans' electronic health records. "But we are receiving more reports of unauthorized access to health information, also known as 'snooping' breaches when someone who is allowed to access health information for their job does so without a legitimate business purpose," he said in an email. Reports of potential breaches to the privacy commissioner ballooned during the next year. Giving health-care workers outside Alberta access to patients' electronic health records could leave the individual, or the government, without much recourse if a person from outside Alberta breaches their privacy.

Source: CBC News November 10, 2020 13:52 UTC