# INTRODUCTION

The Alliance for Healthier Communities is Ontario’s voice for community-governed primary health care. It represents over one hundred community-governed primary health care organizations, including Ontario’s Community Health Centres (CHCs), Indigenous Primary Health Care Organizations (IPHCO), Community Family Health Teams (cFHTs), Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics (NPLCs) and more. The Alliance shares a strong commitment to advance health equity and recognize that access to the highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental human right. Our member centres work hand in hand with those they serve. Each is governed by a board made up of clients, community members, health providers and community leaders. Community governance enables health services to be more easily oriented towards what community members identify as their most important needs. 

The Alliance, as well as our members, believe good health is much more than something you get in a medical clinic. We believe that better health begins in our homes, in our schools, in our workplaces, and in the communities where we live. Our goal is therefore to work towards a complete state of wellbeing for individuals, families and entire communities.

# OUR ROLE 

The Alliance comes into contact with personal information (PI) and personal health information (PHI) when it collects, uses, and discloses employees’ PI to manage the employment relationship, it collects contact information and credit card details from people it registers for conferences and events. 

The Alliance also have limited access to personal health information when it helps the member organizations set up and use electronic medical records (EMR) and is also the provider of a sector-wide Business Intelligence Reporting Tool (BIRT) solution. BIRT is an innovative  award-winning business intelligence software solution developed to support our member organizations in the areas of accountability reporting to funders, administrative planning and evidenced-based clinical decision making. The Health Information Custodians (HICs) remain fully accountable to the individuals receiving health care from them for the privacy practices associated with personal health information. The Alliance does not make any independent decisions concerning the handling of personal health information. It complies with the privacy practices of the Health Information Custodians on whose behalf it acts as Agent (as defined in the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004).

The Alliance is not a Health Information Custodian (HIC), nor a Health Information Network Provider (HINP). Accordingly, if an access request is made to the Alliance for PHI, it will direct the client to the appropriate HIC(s) to respond to the request. 

For more information about the Alliance’s privacy policies and roles, please contact our Privacy Officer.

# SECURITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION IN THE CUSTODY OF THE ALLIANCE 

Protecting privacy appropriately involves giving and respecting individuals’ choices about how information about them can be collected, used and shared. Privacy breaches often result in individuals feeling shame or embarrassment because their families, friends, communities or strangers learn things about them that they did not want to share. Conversely, by feeling secure that their privacy will not be violated, they engage more fully with others, including the health care system. Protecting privacy is therefore inherent in the Alliance’ and its Members’ vision of good health.

The Alliance protects PI and PHI in its custody with technical, administrative, and physical safeguards that are appropriate to the information’s sensitivity, the format in which it is held, and the related privacy risks. These include confidentiality agreements, privacy impact and threat risk assessments, extensive staff training, phishing simulations, security software and encryption protocols, locks, and other controls. 

All information is secured against theft, loss, unauthorized collection, use or disclosure, unauthorized copying, modification or disposal using industry best practices. All staff have signed a Confidentiality Agreement/Pledge and completed applicable privacy and security awareness training and have formally agreed to comply with any additional privacy-related requirements and restrictions established by the Alliance. Personnel must not access PI/PHI unless they need to in order to perform their roles and are authorized to do so. The Alliance ensures that all information is retained, transferred or disposed of in a secure manner. These practices and safeguards are reasonable and consistent with evolving privacy and security standards and best practices.

# CONTACT 

If you have questions or complaints regarding our privacy practices, please contact us in either of the following ways: 

  • Mail: The Alliance for Healthier Communities Suite 500 970 Lawrence Ave West Toronto, ON, M6A 3B6
  • Email: privacy@allianceon.org Telephone: (416) 236 2539 

# COMPLAINTS 

You have the right to contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario if you have a complaint about our privacy policies. The Commissioner can be reached at: 

Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400 Toronto, ON, M5G 2C8 

  • Telephone: (416) 326-3333 or 1-800-387-0073
  • Fax: (416) 325-9195
  • Website: www.ipc.on.ca 

 

Last updated: Nov 2024