Quebec Bill 3 Receives Royal Assent And Signals Major Reform For Handling Of Health And Social Services Information

On April 4, 2023, Quebec’s health information privacy bill, An Act respecting health and social services information and amending various legislative provisions (Bill 3), received royal assent, and is set to establish a new legal framework for health and social services information in Quebec.

The purpose of Bill 3 is to ensure proper protection of health and social services information while optimizing its use and timely communication.  Accordingly, it introduces a formal definition for “health and social services information” as information that allows a person to be identified and has any of the characteristics prescribed in the Bill.  It also provides rules to govern the information practices of health and social services bodies, which include both public bodies like the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux and private sector entities like private health facilities.

Bill 3 implements significant changes for Quebec’s legal landscape as it pertains to health and social services information, such as:

1. providing rules for the collection and use of this information;
2. introducing rules regarding access to health and social services information by third persons;
3. allowing persons to restrict or even refuse to allow certain parties (e.g., certain categories of service providers, persons, etc.) to access information concerning him or her;
4. setting out the cases and conditions on which a health and social services body must communicate the health and social services information it holds, and the cases and conditions on which it may communicate such information;
5. entrusting the Commission d’accès à l’information with overseeing the carrying out of Bill 3, including granting powers and responsibilities to achieve this objective; and
6. establishing a national information filing system designed to facilitate authorized communications, accesses, and other uses.

The provisions of Bill 3 will come into force on a future date as set by government decree.  For the proper establishment of this new framework, several pieces of legislation will be amended and the Act respecting the sharing of certain health information, which governs the Québec Health Record, will be repealed.

Summary By: Imtiaz Karamat