A Ministry of Health investigation into the release of personal health information for research purposes confirmed three incidents where health information was shared without authorization. But it also found no personal patient information was released.
Last year, the ministry fired several employees after it was alleged they had released information to researchers without authorization and terminated contracts with the University of Victoria and University of BC.
On Monday, Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid released the findings of a probe, which was initially scheduled for an earlier release but delayed when one of the employees who had been fired was found dead last week.
It's not yet known if the death of the Harold Roderick MacIsaac was from natural causes or suicide.
In a press release, the ministry said its probe had identified three instances in which personal health information was "inappropriately accessed," saved to USB sticks and "shared with researchers and/or contractors without required permissions and protocols being followed."
None of the information included information that could identify the patient – such as names or social insurance numbers.
"There continues to be no evidence that information was accessed or used for purposes other than health research," said MacDiarmid.
"However, the ministry takes its responsibility to safeguard British Columbians' health information seriously, and that is why a comprehensive investigation of electronic records was undertaken, including computer databases, storage devices and email records going back several years.
"I remain very concerned that rules were not followed in these specific instances."
The case involved data from both the ministry and Statistics Canada's Canadian Community Health Survey.
"This information was collected by Statistics Canada and, as authorized under the federal Statistics Act and with the consent of survey participants, the information was shared with the ministry by virtue of a signed agreement stipulating that personally identifiable information for research would not be disclosed outside of the ministry," a ministry press release stated.
"Disclosure of the information breached the agreement between the ministry and Statistics Canada."
Researchers rely on information from governments for a wide variety of studies on health. Typically the information is purged of any information that can identify individual patients.
When the breaches were originally made public, it put a chill on research by academics in the life sciences in B.C., said LifeSciencesBC president Don Enns.
"Most research that relied on data analysis, when the original breach was identified and the announcement was made by the minister, for the most part, almost all of that went into a period of hiatus," Enns said.
He added that, in B.C., the pharmaceutical industry does not have direct access to the information shared between governments and academic researchers, although some of that research may be funded by the pharmaceutical industry.
