St. Joseph’s urged to nix fax machines amid privacy breaches: IPC

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) is urging workers at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton to avoid using fax machines following thousands of privacy breaches at the company since 2018.

The IPC launched a review into the high number of incidents after a statistical report in 2020 determined that misdirected faxes accounted for 981 of 1,006 unauthorized disclosures of personal health information.

“Fax machines have no place in modern health-care delivery,” said Patricia Kosseim, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, in a written statement.

READ MORE: Over 2000 privacy breaches at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton since 2018

“Our report demonstrates the enormous potential for stakeholders to work proactively together, and in coordinated fashion with the ministry, to replace faxes with more secure communication technologies that will strengthen Ontarians’ trust in the health-care sector.”

According to the statement, St. Joseph’s is implementing certain practices to reduce the risk of sending faxes to the wrong individuals. An “e-referral first” policy for referrals from primary care providers has been put in place.

The hospital is also working with other local health-care partners to replace the use of fax machines with electronic options. If the device must be used, however, patients will be asked to re-confirm the personal information on file for their primary health-care provider.

“Staff are being trained on the importance of this critical step and additional tools are now available to them to check if a physician’s fax number is accurate before sending and to identify and respond to any potential errors in a much more timely way,” the statement said.

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