Ontario announces call for applications to license community surgical and diagnostic centres for gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy procedures
On August 26, 2024, the Ontario government announced a call for applications to consider new licenses under the Integrated Community Health Services Act, 2023 (formerly Bill 60) (the “Act”) for gastrointestinal (“GI”) endoscopy procedures. This call builds on the call for […]
Ontario announces call for applications to license community surgical diagnostic centres for MRI and CT services
Today, the Ontario government announced its highly anticipated call for applications to consider new licences under the Integrated Community Health Services Act, 2023 (the Act) (formerly, Bill 60) for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT) services. The call […]
Legal privilege in cyber incident response: Insights from the LifeLabs data breach
When organizations fall victim to cyber-attacks or other incidents involving data security, they must respond in a way that allows for swift action, while still looking around corners to what additional risks might be lurking after the incident has been […]
Mitigating the risks of generative artificial intelligence in the health industry
Background The emergence of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a paradigm-shifting technology and its potential impact on the health industry cannot be overstated. While AI has been and is increasingly used in Canada for both clinical and non-clinical applications, particularly […]
Privacy Commissioners call on Health Industry to phase out use of traditional fax and unencrypted email in shift to digital healthcare
On September 21, 2022, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada released a Joint Resolution of the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Privacy Commissioners and Ombudspersons with Responsibility for Privacy Oversight entitled Securing Public Trust in Digital Healthcare (the “Joint […]
Ontario launching new agency to centralize government procurement
On November 5, 2020, the Ontario government published Ontario Regulation 612/20 Centralized Supply Chain Ontario (the “Supply Chain Regulation”), under the Supply Chain Management Act, 2019 (the “Act”). The Supply Chain Regulation establishes Supply Ontario, a centralized procurement agency that […]
Tragic death of patient in German cyberattack a reminder of vital importance of cybersecurity in healthcare
On September 10, 2020, a large university hospital in Dusseldorf, Germany, experienced a major cyberattack, apparently caused by a security vulnerability of an off-the-shelf software that allowed hackers to infiltrate the hospital’s systems. The hospital treats approximately 350,000 patients per […]
Ontario passes new law to extend certain COVID-19 Emergency Orders beyond declared state of emergency
On July 21, 2020, Bill 195, the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020 (the “Reopening Ontario Act”) received Royal Assent and will take effect on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor. The […]
Patchwork of face covering By-Laws, Orders, Directives and Instructions issued across Ontario to protect against COVID-19
Wearing non-medical masks or face coverings can be an added public health measure for containing the spread of COVID-19. To date, the Government of Ontario has not implemented a province-wide mandatory face covering requirement due to the substantial variation in […]
COVID-19 Efforts Shift to the Protection of Seniors and Vulnerable Persons
Health Management in Canadian Health Care, Volume 22 Number 3
This article, originally published in Miller Thomson’s Health Communiqué, was reproduced in the June 2020 issue of Health Management in Canadian Health Care (LexisNexis). Although the community spread of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have peaked in the province according […]