Minimize the Risk of Abandoned Health Records 

Abandonment of health records continues to be a problem in Ontario, resulting in serious implications for the privacy of individuals and the security of their health information.

As part of a strategy to help prevent abandoned records, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) has developed a new fact sheet—Succession Planning to Help Prevent Abandoned Records.

The fact sheet outlines the importance of succession planning in the event that a Health Information Custodian (HIC) retires, relocates or otherwise becomes incapacitated. 

The IPC recommends custodians implement the following best practices to prevent abandoned records:

• Create a succession plan that clearly identifies a successor and sets out their responsibilities, and those of any agents (such as a record storage company) who will assist with the retention, transfer or disposal of health records
  
  
• Ensure the plan identifies a person who will be responsible during the transfer of records for:
  • maintaining the security of records
  • responding to patients’ access requests
  • making agreements with agents (such as a record storage company) setting out their duties concerning the records
  • notifying patients of the transfer

• Review and update the plan on a regular basis and when there is a change in circumstances that could affect the transfer of those records to a successor