Infoway Wins Prestigious International Privacy Award

Recognized for Innovative Privacy Program

TORONTO, Sept. 22, 2014 /CNW/ - Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) and the Infoway-sponsored Health Information Privacy Group (HIPG) have received the HP-IAPP Privacy Innovation award from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). The award was presented on September 19, 2014 at the closing general session of the IAPP Privacy Academy and CSA Congress in San Jose, California.

This is the 12^th year for the IAPP awards, which honour unique programs and services that integrate global privacy and data protection, while adding value to the public and private sectors. Nominees are judged from a broad field of entries and selected by a panel of privacy experts from the public and private sectors.

Infoway and the HIPG were recognized in the small organization category (fewer than 5,000 employees), for the landmark paper "Privacy and EHR Information Flows in Canada – Common understandings of the Pan-Canadian Health Information Privacy Group." The paper put forward 53 "common understandings" to set the stage for cross-Canada privacy protective disclosures of personal health information via jurisdiction-specific electronic health records.

"Our awards celebrate advancement, vision and originality," said J. Trevor Hughes, CIPP, President and CEO of the IAPP. "We are proud to recognize Infoway and the HIPG for their commitment to innovation and to the privacy industry."

The HIPG is a unique multi-disciplinary and inter-jurisdictional working group whose 14 members represent Canada's health ministries and eHealth agencies. The HIPG was created by Infoway in 2008 and is co-chaired by the ministries/agencies and Infoway.

"It is a great honour for us to receive this prestigious award from the IAPP," said Michael Green, President and CEO, Canada Health Infoway. "It acknowledges the tremendous work the HIPG has done to improve information flow in digital health systems across Canada by developing common approaches and non-technical tools to address privacy issues."

"The award also recognizes the HIPG as a new model of cooperation and collaboration among Canadian health ministries and digital health agencies," Green said. "I want to thank our jurisdictional partners for being part of this venture for the past six years, and we look forward to working with you through the HIPG in the years ahead."

About the IAPP

The International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) is the largest and most comprehensive global information privacy community and resource, helping practitioners develop and advance their careers and organizations manage and protect their data. Founded in 2000, the IAPP is a not-for-profit association that helps define, support and improve the privacy profession globally. More information about the IAPP is available at www.privacyassociation.org.

About Canada Health Infoway
Infoway helps to improve the health of Canadians by working with partners to accelerate the development, adoption and effective use of digital health across Canada. Through our investments, we help deliver better quality and access to care and more efficient delivery of health services for patients and clinicians. Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government.

SOURCE: Canada Health Infoway

Leah Motz (media only), Edelman on behalf of International Association of Privacy Professionals, Tel: [phone], [e-mail]; Dan Strasbourg, Director, Media Relations, Canada Health Infoway, Tel: [phone], [e-mail]