Alberta Health Act Amendments Seek Breach Notice, Fines Up to C$500,000

The government of Canada’s Alberta province May 5 introduced legislation (Bill 12) that would amend the provincial Health Information Act (HIA) to require breach notification to the government and affected individuals.

The bill would require covered entities, known under the HIA as health information custodians, to notify the Alberta minister of health and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta of breaches. In addition, health information custodians would be required to notify individuals potentially at risk from having their data compromised.

The bill would authorize fines of up to C$10,000 ($9,171) for an individual and ...