Managing access to your EHR

A consent directive gives patients - or their substitute decision makers - the option to restrict access to personal health information in the electronic health record. If you – or your substitute decision maker – do not want to the share health information with members of your health care team, you can restrict access by asking for a consent directive to be added to your record. This means that when a clinician tries to access your record, a notice pops up indicating your record is blocked.

Just because you have restricted access does not mean that your record will be out of date – new information will continue to be added throughout your health care journey. And you can always unblock your record at any time. Once applied, or removed, you will receive confirmation that your consent directive is in place, or has been lifted.

Consent Overrides

In accordance with PHIPA, there are certain circumstances where a health information custodian may access information in the EHR which is subject to a consent directive. This is known as a consent override. The Electronic Health Record Consent Directive and Consent Override Policy outlines the circumstances where an override is permitted. The policy is available here: https://ehealthontario.on.ca/en/shared/ehr-consent-directive-consent-override-policy

Note that in some instances, a health information custodian may not have the technical ability  to perform a consent override, and therefore may not be able to access the personal health information while a consent directive is in place, even if there is a significant risk of serious bodily harm to the individual to whom the information relates or to another person or group of persons.