Professional Predicaments

Answer:

Good question! As noted in ACSLPA’s Clinical Documentation and Record Keeping Guideline (2021), “ACSLPA regulated members who are in independent practice are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the appropriate legislation and their corresponding responsibilities. The rapidly changing nature of technology necessitates maintaining currency as privacy requirements evolve. In addition, regulated members need to remain apprised of legislation updates and revisions” (p. 21).

Please also be aware that if you are working across different settings, you need to be mindful that your privacy obligations may differ dependent in which setting you are working at any given time. Access to privacy legislation is available on the ACSLPA website here.

Currently in Alberta there are 5 pieces of legislation that impact privacy considerations. Depending on where you work and who ‘owns’ the records, your practice will be governed by one or more of these pieces of legislation. And if your employer (aka the ‘owner’ of the records) changes, there’s a good chance so will the privacy legislation under which your practice is governed.

Here’s a quick synopsis:

The Health Information Act (HIA) governs health information and defines individuals and organizations that it applies to as either custodians or affiliates. Your work at the community health centre would typically fall under this Act.

The Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) governs personal information, including both health and non-health information held by private sector organizations in Alberta. PIPA is applicable to private businesses (including SLP and audiology private practices), non-profit organizations and professional regulatory bodies. As a private practitioner, it’s important that you are aware of your privacy obligations and that you develop policies that outline privacy requirements relevant to your practice. Note that if you are contracting with a public body such as a school, even though your practice may typically be governed under PIPA, in the context of a contractor, your obligations may fall under ATIA and POPA (see below).

The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP) was recently replaced by two new pieces of legislation- The Access to Information Act (ATIA) and the Protection of Privacy Act (POPA). This legislation applies to individuals working in the public sector in Alberta, including school boards and charter schools or in academic roles at universities and colleges. This may also include individuals who are contracting with these agencies.

The Children First Act (CFA) supplements information sharing already outlined in other privacy legislation by delineating additional circumstances where information about children can be collected, used, and disclosed. Regulated members employed by public bodies or under agreement with a public body (i.e., contractual workers), may be subject to the provisions of the CFA.

Regulated members are reminded that they may contact the College if they have questions or need further clarification. Please do not hesitate to reach out at any time using the Contact Us form.

If there is a conflict or discrepancy with the information or advice set out on this webpage and the information contained in a more official ACSLPA document, then the information contained in the more official ACSLPA document applies and not the information or advice set out here. For the purposes of this disclaimer, ACSLPA’s more official documents include the governing legislation (including the Health Professions Act and the Speech-Language Pathologist and Audiologist Profession Regulation) as well as ACSLPA’s Bylaws, policies, Standards of Practice, Code of Ethics, manuals and/or any other official document approved by Council, a statutory committee or a college official. Persons interacting with ACSLPA are responsible for reviewing and familiarizing themselves with the relevant information contained in ACSLPA’s official documents.