This Operating a Dental Practice in Alberta document is provided by the College of Dental Surgeons of Alberta to Alberta dentists as a membership service to assist dentists who are operating or setting up a dental office. The document addresses the owner dentist(s) responsibilities as they relate to the College of Dental Surgeons of Alberta when operating or establishing a dental office.
Important Notice: Alberta’s Health Information Act
Dentist must obtain an information manager agreement (Health Information Act, Section 66) and are required to submit and have accepted privacy impact assessments (PIA) in place from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta before adopting any proposed new practice or system, or any proposed change to existing practices and systems that involves health information (Health Information Act sec. 64). An information manager agreement will need to be included with the PIA submission to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta.
Practice Related Resources
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Tracked Prescription Program
The prescription of controlled drugs is monitored by the Tracked Prescription Program (formerly Triplicate Prescription Program). It is administered by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) for all prescribers in the province. Information and a list of drugs covered by this program are available from the CDSA office. For more information, please click here.
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Developing Privacy Impact Assessments for AI scribe tools
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) of Alberta has issued a guidance document that will assist custodians under the Health Information Act (HIA) in ensuring they are compliant with HIA when using AI scribe tools.
Under the HIA, custodians are required to submit to OIPC privacy impact assessments (PIAs) that describe the effect of any proposed administrative practice or system or change in administrative practice or system involving the collection, use and disclosure of individually identifying health information. This means that custodians must submit a PIA on any implementation and use of AI scribe tools.
Artificial intelligence (AI) scribe tools transcribe and summarize interactions between people. In the case of custodians, such as dentists, the AI scribe tool would listen to and record conversations with patients, which would generally include sensitive information, and would then transcribe those conversations into a summarized text file, which is stored with the patients’ medical records. AI scribe tools have other capabilities as well, including generating prescriptions and referral letters, and integrating diagnostic images into records.
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Alberta’s Electronic Health Record (Netcare)
Alberta Netcare
Members of the profession must complete the prerequisite requirements for obtaining access to Alberta Netcare as established under the Alberta Electronic Health Records Regulation. The Alberta Netcare Learning Centre provides more information on the steps required to gain access to Alberta Netcare. These steps include preparing a Provincial Organizational Readiness Assessment (pORA), submitting an expedited Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC), and signing an Information Manager Agreement (IMA) with Alberta Health. You can find more information on the Alberta Netcare Learning Centre: albertanetcare.ca/LearningCentre/access-netcare-ehr.htm.Note: the expedited PIA for Netcare access does not eliminate the responsibility under the Health Information Act for the submission of other PIAs to the OIPC when a custodian(dentist) changes the way health information is collected, used, disclosed, secured or destroyed.
Dentists should be mindful that access to Alberta Netcare is a responsibility and comes with accountability and consequences should that access be used inappropriately. The Health Information Act has fines and penalties for individuals or organizations that access or use health information in contravention.
Dentists who wish to seek access to Alberta Netcare should email the eHealth Support Services (eHSS) team with the clinic information at ehealthNACIsupport@cgi.com to initiate the process.If you wish to contact the eHSS team by phone, you may call the eHSS Contact Centre at 1-855-643-8649. The Contact Centre hours of availability are Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity, and the safeguarding of information stored electronically, is extremely important for the protection of the public, staff, and practicing dentists.
Many dentists and their staff access patient management software remotely and use cloud computing software and storage. Online, cloud based, electronic health record systems are becoming more popular among dentists in Alberta.
Below is a list of resources to assist you in learning more about Cybersecurity and ensuring the protection of digitally stored information.
Cybersecurity Tips
The information provided in the above document from Victor Insurance aligns closely with the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) of Alberta, which applies to non-health information, such as employee information.Guidance for Health Information Systems
This document provides information to custodians of digital information related to their responsibilities under the Health Information Act (HIA) for health record systems including Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), Information Manager Agreement (IMA) and remote access.Other resources provided by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Alberta: