Accessing  Health Records

Freedom of Information

 

Welcome to Manitoulin Health Centre’s (MHC) Freedom of Information & Protection of Privacy (FIPPA) web page. The purpose of FIPPA is to provide the public with access to information and to protect the privacy of individuals whose personal information we have in our custody or under our control. MHC has established a Freedom of Information (FOI) Coordinator to administer general and personal information access requests received under FIPPA.

 

What is FIPPA? 

 

The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) requires public institutions to protect the privacy of your personal information that is in their custody or under their control. It also gives you the right to request access to any information held by the institution, including general records and records containing your own personal information.

 

“Personal information” means recorded information about an individual. This may include your name, address, sex, age, education, employment history – and any other information about you. FIPPA does not apply to Personal Health Information (PHI) which is information about your health or health care history. This type of information is subject to the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA). If you are seeking access or correction to your PHI please contact our Privacy Officer or Health Records Department at (705) 368-2300 ext. 2516.

To view MHC’s Inventory of Records, please click on the link below:

Making a Freedom of Information (FOI) Request

You can request access to general records or your personal information using the following FIPPA request form:

 

Once you have completed and signed the form, mail or deliver to:

 

Freedom of Information (FOI) Coordinator
Manitoulin Health Centre
11 Meredith Street, P. O. Box 640
Little Current, ON P0P 1K0

 

Please include a cheque or money order for the required fee of $5.00.  All fees are payable to Manitoulin Health Centre.


FIPPA FEE SCHEDULE

 

General Information Access Requests:

 

  • FOI Request Fee $5.00 must accompany formal written request. This fee is mandatory and cannot be waived.
  • Photocopies or computer printouts $0.20 per page
  • CD-ROMs $10 per CD-ROM
  • Records search $7.50 per 15 minutes spent by any person manually searching for records
  • Record preparation $7.50 per 15 minutes spent preparing the records for disclosure
  • Computer programming $15 per 15 minutes spent developing a computer program to produce a record
  • Costs, including computer costs incurred to locate, retrieve, process and copy records as specified in an invoice received by MHC
  • Actual costs

 

Personal Information Access Requests:


Payment of fees is required prior to the release of information.

 

Every effort will be made to provide a fee estimate when the fees of processing your access request are expected to exceed $25.00.

 

If estimated fees are greater than $100, a deposit of 50% of the total estimated fee may be required before any further steps are taken to respond to the request.

 

Appeal fees of $10.00 for personal information requests and $25.00 for general information requests are payable to the Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner (www.ipc.ca).

 


How your FIPPA request is processed:

 

  1. The FOI Office will log your request.
  2. Your request will be reviewed to ensure it is complete and clear. If there are any questions, the FOI Office will contact you to discuss.
  3. The FOI Office will contact the department at MHC that would have the records you have requested, asking them to locate the records and send the FOI Office a copy for review.
  4. The FOI Office will consider exemptions and exclusions and prepare a letter to advise you which of the requested records you are permitted to access.
  5. If access is granted in full, you will receive a copy of the records.
  6. If access is granted in part, this means access to some records has been denied.  You will receive a copy of the records, however information will appear blacked out on your copy. The letter will state the reason why access was denied to the information.
  7. In some cases, information will be denied in full. If this is the case, the letter of response will explain what exclusion or exemption was applied to arrive at this decision. You will also be advised how to appeal MHC’s decision.
  8. MHC must respond to your request within 30 days of receiving your formal request. If your request is for a large number of records, requires extensive search, or consultation with an external third party, the time limit may be extended. You will be advised of any time extensions.

 

How to appeal the results of an FOI request:

 

MHC may decide not to release all of the information that you request. In our decision letter we will cite the sections of FIPPA we are using to withhold the information from you. If you disagree, you can then ask the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) of Ontario to review the decision by making an “appeal”. You can do this by writing a letter describing why you are not satisfied with MHC’s decision.

 

Alternatively, you may use IPC’s Appeal Form which can be found online at www.ipc.on.ca. Please enclose an appeal fee of $10.00 (for personal information) or $25.00 (for general information) and send your appeal to:

 

Registrar
Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario
2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400
Toronto, ON M4W 1A8
Tel: (416) 326-3333
Toll-free Ontario: 1.800.387.0073