Government of New Brunswick

Privacy Statement

1.    What is the Public Health Information Solution (PHIS)?

Preventing and managing outbreaks of notifiable diseases, including, but not limited to, COVID, SARS, influenza, H1N1, whooping cough and E. coli, is crucial to ensuring the health and safety of New Brunswick residents. PHIS is a secure, integrated solution that facilitates the management and delivery of publicly funded immunizations in New Brunswick.

PHIS consists of two key components:

  • Inventory Management: PHIS allows Public Health officials in New Brunswick, to efficiently and accurately plan, requisition and manage the supply of vaccines and other immunizing agents to ensure that appropriate levels are available when and where they are needed while minimizing wastage.
  • Immunization Management: PHIS allows Public Health officials in New Brunswick, to maintain a comprehensive, up-to-date repository of publicly-funded immunizations, to record, monitor, forecast and plan for the delivery of publicly-funded immunizations.

2.    Who is responsible for PHIS?

There are several organizations involved in the delivery, implementation, management and use of PHIS, including the following:

  • The Department of Health, Public Health Branch, owns, oversees and manages the Public Health Information Solution;
  • The epidemiologists who monitor immunization data;
  • Medical officers of health who lead public health professionals in the investigation and management of adverse events following immunizations and in immunization counseling;
  • Public Health officials in the two regional health authorities (RHAs), the Horizon Health Network and the Vitalité Health Network, use PHIS to manage immunizations within their jurisdictions;
  • Participating First Nations Communities use PHIS to manage immunizations within their communities;
  • Service New Brunswick provides information technology services to the Department of Health to support in the implementation and management of PHIS;
  • IBM Canada is the system provider of a fully managed, hosted solution, based on the “Public Health Solution for Disease Surveillance and Management”, or “Panorama.

3.    What personal health information is included in PHIS, and for what purposes?

PHIS involves personal health information about most New Brunswick residents, as well as other individuals who may have come into contact with the New Brunswick health care system. This includes the following categories of personal health information:

  • Identifying Information:

What - PHIS records identifying information, such as name, address, Medicare and/or other health identification numbers, age, phone number, email address, gender, and language preference.
Why - This information is required to ensure that residents are accurately identified in the system (PHIS) and that they can be contacted when required.

  • School Information:

What - information about school, grade and class in New Brunswick Public schools.                                             
Why - to monitor the immunization status of students, to plan and deliver school immunization clinics, and to assist in investigations and outbreak management.

  • Allergies:

What - information about an individual known allergies.      
Why - to identify and prevent allergic reactions to immunizations.

  • Immunization Profile:

What - specific immunization details such as when, where and by whom immunization was delivered.                                                                                                    
Why - to create a comprehensive profile of publicly funded immunizations  

  • Adverse Events Following Immunization:

What - adverse events (side effects) following immunization.                                  
Why - to identify, respond to, and prevent unwanted or unexpected reactions to immunizations.

4.    Where does personal health information in PHIS come from?

► PHIS receives some information directly from electronic systems:

  • Client Registry: The Department of Health Client Registry provides basic identification and demographic information about residents.
  • Medicare: Medicare provides information about publicly funded immunizations delivered by physicians and other health care providers outside of Public Health.
  • Drug Information System (DIS): The DIS displays, in real-time, your history of prescriptions filled in community pharmacies in New Brunswick.
  • EECD Electronic Operational Data Store (EODS): EODS collects school-related information about students from schools within the provinces, which is then transferred to PHIS.

► PHIS receives other information inputted by its authorized users

      For example, Public Health nurses directly record in PHIS the immunizations they deliver.    

5.    Who has access to personal health information?

Only professionals requiring access to PHIS to perform their job are granted users access through a comprehensive request access process including technical and privacy trainings. PHIS access is based on defined user roles designed to provide access to the least amount of personal health information required for a user to perform their duties. PHIS users include the following:

  • Public Health and First Nations community health nurses who deliver immunizations and monitor for adverse events following immunization;
  • administrative staff who provide support to immunizers;
  • epidemiologists who monitor immunization data;
  • senior program advisors who plan, implement, monitor and evaluate the New Brunswick, immunization program;
  • medical officers of health who lead public health professionals on investigations and management of Adverse Events Following Immunizations and consultation for immunization;
  • system administrators who require access to personal health information in limited circumstances;
  • Other Healthcare Practitioners who provide immunizations including Pharmacists, Extramural Staff and Hospital Staff Health Services;
  • Data Entry staff for mass immunization vaccine data entry including Department of Health, Regional Health Authorities, Extramural Services and Hospital Staff Health Services.

6.    Where and how is information stored?

Personal health information is stored in the “Public Health Solution for Disease Surveillance and Management”, or “Panorama”, the central component of PHIS, which is developed and managed by IBM Canada. Panorama is hosted on secure servers located in Canada.

7.    How is privacy protected with PHIS?

There are several measures in place to protect the privacy and security of personal health information in PHIS, including the following:

  • databases containing personal health information are protected by administrative, physical and technical safeguards, including such things as restricted access to physical servers, firewalls, anti-virus software, intrusion detection systems and data encryption;
  • user access to personal health information is only provided on a need-to-know basis, and limited to the least amount of information required for a user to perform their duties;
  • PHIS users are required to commit to protect the privacy and security of personal health information in PHIS; and
  • the actions of PHIS users are logged for the purposes of auditing to identify unauthorized access, and/or inappropriate collection, use or disclosure of personal health information.

8.    Who can I contact for further information about how my personal health information is used in PHIS?

For further privacy-related information about PHIS, please contact the Department of Health Corporate Privacy Office at [email protected]