Concerns

If you have made a formal request for access to information under the Health Information Act (HIA) and are not satisfied with the response you receive, you may contact the Information and Privacy Commissioner to request that he review the decision(s) of the custodian. The HIA allows the Commissioner to review decisions such as:

• failing to respond within 30 days
• the adequacy of search
• withholding information under one or more of the exceptions to access in the Act
• the calculation of fees
• decisions regarding fee waivers
• the decision to refuse to make a correction

The Commissioner will either uphold or overrule the decision of the custodian.

You can request that the Commissioner review the decision of a custodian by completing and submitting the Request for Review form which appears on the bottom of this page, with applicable attachments. Individuals should be aware that the information they send to the Information and Privacy Commissioner requesting a review of the custodian’s decision will be sent to the head of the custodian and any other person the Commissioner considers to be affected.

Individuals may also request an investigation by the Commissioner if they believe their own health information has been collected, used or disclosed in violation of the HIA. In these cases, the complaint form requesting investigation of a privacy breach will automatically be sent to the custodian unless the individual expresses a concern at the outset, in which case the Commissioner will decide whether or not to provide the complaint, in whole or in part, to the custodian.

Both the request for review form and the complaint form require that the individual provides an address for service where that individual is to be contacted by the Commissioner, his staff, the custodian and any affected party for all purposes related to their review or complaint.  Similarly, the custodian and every affected party are required to have an address for service.  Every address for service will be shared with all other parties to the review or complaint, with the exception of undisclosed (unnamed) affected parties.  Any change to any party’s address for service must be communicated to both the Commissioner’s Office and all other parties immediately.  Failure to do so on the part of the individual will result in that individual’s review or complaint not proceeding.

The Commissioner's mailing address is:

# 410, 9925 - 109 Street
Edmonton, AB
T5K 2J8

At this time, the Information and Privacy Commissioner does not accept requests for review or complaints via email.

Request for Review Form

Complaint Form

Address for Service Form