Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, through the deputy, I have asked the deputy to have our chief health information officer reach out to the Information and Privacy Commissioner to get some ideas from her on what areas we might be able to amend or tweak in order to provide some of that clarity. I am not 100 per cent convinced that it requires legislative change. We might be able to do the same things through a plain-language-type document or other means. We are exploring those right now to see what is the most expeditious and simple for our residents to make sure that they have an understanding of the act.

It may result in some legislative changes. It may not. We are going to reach out to the privacy commissioner to get their sense. We are going to try to come up with a plan to help make it clear to our residents as best we can. I am not going to commit to legislative change at this point because the work hasn't been done to determine whether that is the best avenue at this point. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is the last component of this work. It is good that staff are being trained. I think the training becomes complicated when the legislation is complicated. If the Minister is getting the training done, I expect we will see a decrease in complaints under the act and breaches under the act. What resources are being dedicated towards public education on patient rights under the legislation? I know the Minister just spoke to that work ongoing, but what dedicated resources are in this budget to support that work because it is an important component that is missing from the current information regime in our health system. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't mean to be a doom-and-gloom kind of guy, but as we get more of our people trained and fully up to speed on the Health Information Act, a couple of different things could happen. One of the things that could happen is our staff might be more aware of some of the things or breaches that have been occurring in the past. If they are identified, I hope they are reported to the Privacy Commissioner. There is a chance that as people become more educated, they might be aware that breaches have been occurring. They are reported. We fix them. It is conceivable that could happen, given that we had eight authorities doing things in their own ways for a long time. I think we need to be aware that this work might result in what could be perceived as bad news but may ultimately be good news.

We are working through the health information officers' office to get information that is available, to go to the public to help them understand their rights. We have forms and all of those types of things that are available when a patient goes in to see a practitioner. It helps them understand. We hear from people that it needs to be a little bit clearer. We are working to do that. We have a budget in this area, and that is what those budgets are for, is to do this work, and we will get that work done. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Time is up, Mr. Testart. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would like to follow up on my colleague's questions by giving a couple of specific examples of where there seem to be technological deficiencies in the current electronic medical record system. One is about patients opting out. Apparently, there is no way for them to opt out of electronic medical records. Is that no longer the case? Can they now opt out if they don't want their records collected digitally? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, individuals who access the healthcare system cannot opt out of utilizing the record systems that we have in place. Our priority, and following up on the recommendations of the Information and Privacy Commissioner about concerns raised by others including individuals of this House, is the ability for a resident to block the ability of their information to be shared with others. We didn't think we initially could do that, but we believe now that we can, so we're working on finding a mechanism whereby a resident, should they choose to, could require us to block their ability for their information to be shared with others; but no, residents won't necessarily be able to say, "No, I don't want any records. I don't want any electronic health records." Our system is going to be an electronic records system. We are moving forward. It will improve quality of care for residents, and there won't be a paper option once we are fully rolled out, but we are looking to find a way to block. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I understand that one of the remedies to offer people who don't want to be part of the electronic medical records is, in fact, to offer them masking where information is concealed. I'm not exactly sure what the right word is, but it's protected, I guess, from certain users in the system; and that the current system is called a legacy system, so it is not that easy to find this fix of masking information on it. Can the Minister elaborate on that point, please?

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am pretty sure we are talking about the same thing, using a different word. We are talking about the resident being able to block their record from being seen by certain individuals within this healthcare system, including certain specific information.

The initial system, as designed, didn't really have that available, but we have been working with the developers to see how we can incorporate that in, and we believe there is a mechanism. We are not 100 per cent sure. I may come back and say I was wrong, but at this point we believe that it is something we can do. If we find otherwise, I will certainly let committee know, and we will be looking for alternative solutions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could the Minister give us an idea of when this potential fix is going to be piloted, and when we might hear a resolution to this issue? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the timing is interesting. We haven't completed a work plan on this yet, but I am scheduled to have a briefing in the next couple of weeks once we have a bit better idea of the magnitude. I will certainly keep Members informed as we move forward as appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just finally on this point: could the Minister commit to proactively informing the committee once he has had the briefing about the status of this issue so that we are also in the loop?

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am pretty sure that is what I just said. I am going to keep committee in the loop. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Ms. Green.

Nothing further. Thank you.