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Fifth Session, 44th General Assembly

52 Elizabeth II, 2003

BILL 1

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR CENTRE FOR HEALTH INFORMATION

Received and Read the First Time

Second Reading

Committee

Third Reading

Royal Assent

HONOURABLE GERALD SMITH

Minister of Health and Community Services

Ordered to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Bill would incorporate the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information and amend various statutes to allow the release of personal information to the centre, subject to the terms and conditions that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may prescribe.

 

A BILL

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR CENTRE FOR HEALTH INFORMATION

Analysis

1. Short title

2. Definitions

3. Centre

4. Object

5. Restriction on powers

6. Board of directors

7. Term of office

8. Chairperson

9. Meetings

10. Annual general meeting

11. Annual report and audit

12. Employees

13. Action prohibited

14. Finances

15. By-laws

16. Regulations

17. Consequential amendments

18. Commencement

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:


Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Centre for Health Information Act.

Definitions

2. In this Act

(a) "centre" means the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information;

(b) "department" means the department created under the Executive Council Act over which the minister presides;

(c) "director" means a person appointed to the board of directors of the centre under section 6;

(d) "minister" means the minister appointed under the Executive Council Act to administer this Act; and

(e) "personal information" means personal information as defined in the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Centre

3. (1) The Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information is established as a corporation without share capital for the purposes of the Corporations Act.

(2) The centre is exempt from section 423 of the Corporations Act.

(3) The centre is an agent of the Crown.

(4) Property of the centre is the property of the Crown and title to it shall be held in the name of the centre.

Object

4. (1) The object of the centre is to assist individuals, communities, health service providers and policy makers at federal, provincial and regional levels in making informed decisions to enhance the health and well-being of persons in the province by providing a comprehensive province-wide information system that

(a) protects the confidentiality and security of personal information that is collected, used, disclosed, stored or disposed of by the centre;

(b) provides accurate and current information to users of the health and community services system;

(c) integrates data from all components of the health and community services system;

(d) is efficient and cost-effective; and

(e) is flexible and responsive to the changing requirements of users of the system.

(2) The centre shall operate without the purpose of gain and any excess revenue shall be used for the objects in subsection (1).

Restriction on powers

5. Without the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, the centre shall not

(a) purchase real property;

(b) borrow money or pledge its assets; or

(c) make investments or loans, other than short-term investments with the approval of the Minister of Finance.

Board of directors

6. (1) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall appoint a board of directors of the centre.

(2) The board shall exercise all of the powers and discharge all of the duties of the corporation and administer and manage its business.

(3) The board shall consist of a minimum of 10 directors and a maximum of 15 directors.

(4) One of the directors shall be an employee of the department who shall be designated by the minister.

(5) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall appoint one of the directors as chairperson and one as vice-chairperson.

(6) The board of directors shall serve without remuneration but directors may be paid the amounts for travel and other expenses incurred in the work of the centre in accordance with guidelines established by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

Term of office

7. (1) A director shall hold office for 3 years from the date his or her appointment becomes effective.

(2) Where the term of a director expires, he or she continues to be a director until re-appointed or replaced.

(3) A director whose term of office has expired is eligible for reappointment.

(4) A director other than the employee referred to in subsection 6(4) may not serve as a director for a continuous period longer than 9 years.

(5) A director may resign the office of director by written notice to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

(6) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may remove a director from office before the term of office of that director expires.

Chairperson

8. (1) The chairperson appointed under section 6 shall preside over all meetings of the board of directors.

(2) Where the chairperson is absent or the office of chairperson is vacant, the vice-chairperson shall act in his or her place and in the absence of the vice-chairperson or where the office of vice-chairperson is vacant the board may choose another director to act in the place of the chairperson.

Meetings

9. (1) A majority of the directors appointed under section 6 constitutes a quorum for meetings of the board.

(2) Except where prohibited in the by-laws of the centre, a director may, where all the directors consent, participate in a meeting of the board by means of a telephone or another telecommunication device that permits all persons participating in the meeting to communicate with each other.

Annual general meeting

10. (1) The centre shall hold an annual general meeting in each calendar year at a time and place set by the centre.

(2) Notice of the meeting shall be provided to the public.

Annual report and audit

11. The centre shall submit to the minister before September 30 of each year

(a) a report on its activities in the preceding financial year; and

(b) audited financial statements for the preceding financial year.

Employees

12. The centre may employ or engage the services of those persons it considers necessary to attain the object in section 4 and determine their respective duties and powers, their conditions of employment or engagement and their remuneration.

Action prohibited

13. An action for damages shall not lie against the board of directors or an officer or employee of the centre for an act or failure to act, or a proceeding initiated or carried out in good faith under this Act, or carrying out their duties or obligations as an officer, employee or director under this Act.

Finances

14. (1) The funds of the centre shall consist of money received by it, including money granted to it by the Legislature.

(2) The centre shall prepare and adopt and submit to the minister before the date set by the minister a budget containing estimates of all sums required during the next financial year of the centre and the estimated revenue and expenditure of the centre in the detail and in the form that the minister may require.

(3) Except with the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, in a year the centre shall not contract or become liable for an expenditure or indebtedness beyond or in excess of the amount appropriated by the legislature or received by the centre in that year.

(4) The financial year of the centre shall be the same as the financial year of the province.

By-laws

15. The board of directors may make by-laws generally for the conduct and management of the affairs of the centre.

Regulations

16. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make regulations respecting

(a) the provision by the centre of administrative, technical and physical safeguards for the confidentiality and security of personal information that is collected, used, disclosed, stored or disposed of by the centre;

(b) the centre's obligation to provide notice of the collection, use or disclosure of personal information;

(c) the preparation of a privacy impact statement on activities of the centre involving the collection, use, disclosure, storage or disposal of personal information;

(d) respecting the terms and conditions under which information may be released to the centre under

(i) the Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation Act,

(ii) the Health and Community Services Act,

(iii) the Hospitals Act,

(iv) the Medical Care Insurance Act, 1999,

(v) the Vital Statistics Act, and

(vi) another Act or regulation;

(e) respecting the disclosure of information to persons or bodies located outside the province;

(f) the conduct of a review of the operations of the centre;

(g) respecting the winding-up of the affairs of and the dissolution of the centre; and

(h) generally, to give effect to the provisions of this Act.

Consequential amendments

17. (1) The Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation Act is amended by adding immediately after section 17 the following:

Release of information

17.1 The foundation may release information, including personal information as defined in the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, to the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information in accordance with the Centre for Health Information Act and regulations made under that Act.

(2) The Health and Community Services Act is amended by adding immediately after section 4 the following:

Release of information

4.1 Either

(a) a board established under section 4; or

(b) the department

may release information, including personal information as defined in the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, to the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information in accordance with the Centre for Health Information Act and regulations made under that Act.

(3) Subsection 35(3) of the Hospitals Act is repealed and the following substituted:

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply in respect of information provided by a hospital authority to

(a) a patient or former patient of the hospital controlled by the hospital authority, or where that patient is an infant or under disability, to the parent or guardian of that person;

(b) a person authorized in writing by a patient or person referred to in paragraph (a);

(c) an agency or department of a provincial government or the Government of Canada, or an official of a provincial government or the Government of Canada acting in his or her official capacity, where that agency, department or official has received the prior approval of the minister for the release of that information and the content of that information to be released by the hospital authority is approved by the minister;

(d) the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information in accordance with the Centre for Health Information Act and regulations made under that Act; or

(e) a physician or other hospital authority within or outside the province, where the physician or hospital authority is in the course of treatment of the patient concerned,

when the information is provided at the request of that person, department, centre or agency.

(4) Subsection 3(1) of the Medical Care Insurance Act, 1999 is amended by deleting the word "or" at the end of paragraph (e) and by adding immediately after that paragraph the following:

(e.1) for the purpose of releasing information, including personal information as defined in the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, to the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information in accordance with the Centre for Health Information Act and regulations made under that Act; or

(5) The Vital Statistics Act is amended by adding immediately after section 27 the following:

Release of information

28. Notwithstanding section 26, the registrar may release information, including personal information as defined in the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, to the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information in accordance with the Centre for Health Information Act and regulations made under that Act.

Commencement

18. This Act shall come into force on a day to be proclaimed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

©Earl G. Tucker, Queen's Printer