Privacy commissioner monitoring Teladoc situation
Information and Privacy Commissioner Michael Harvey said his office is carefully monitoring the Teladoc situation.
A class action lawsuit filed in New York earlier this year alleges the virtual health care company shared sensitive health information with Facebook for the purpose of targeted advertising.
In an emailed statement, Teladoc Health told Saltwire it does not comment on pending litigation. “However, we can confirm that consistent with applicable Canadian privacy legislation, Teladoc Health does not provide member information to Meta or any other social platform. Teladoc Health takes very seriously the protection of our members' information as well as its obligations under privacy laws generally and Teladoc Health will vigorously defend itself,” the statement said.
REACHED SETTLEMENT
The provincial health authority, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services (NLHS), signed a $22-million contract with Teladoc in November to provide virtual primary care and virtual ER.
That contract was announced just eight months after Teladoc subsidiary Betterhelp paid a $7.8-million settlement to clients after the Federal Trade Commission in the United States said Betterhelp sent personal health information to Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest and others for marketing purposes. In that case, Betterhelp admitted no wrongdoing.
The company said it used “limited, encrypted information to optimize the effectiveness” of its advertising campaigns, something it called an industry standard practice that’s routinely used.
Health Minister Tom Osborne told Saltwire this week he wasn’t aware of that case, but he’s become “far more aware” of Teladoc since it started offering virtual care in the province.
Osborne said Teladoc will follow the appropriate legislation in this province.
MAY STRETCH BOUNDARIES
Newfoundland and Labrador has legislation called the Personal Health Information Act that provides a framework for the protection of the personal health information of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
Despite that, Harvey said his office remains concerned about how personal health information might be used by companies in the emerging field of virtual health.
“Technology is advancing rapidly in the health system and new products are being offered by vendors, old and new, all the time,” Harvey said.
“Firms in this sector (are) constantly trying to innovate ways to use information and its analysis to produce more functionalities, and some of these innovations may stretch at the boundaries of what the law may allow.
“This is complicated by the fact that vendors are operating in multiple jurisdictions, each with its own legislation, and the vendors themselves may not be fully aware of whether their products are compliant with legislation.
“It will be challenging even for custodians with significant privacy expertise such as NLHS to ensure that the new products they purchase do not involve non-compliant features,” he said.
WATCHING ALLEGATIONS ‘WITH CONCERN’
Harvey said his office was briefed by the health authority about the Teladoc contract.
“Teladoc is not allowed to do anything that NLHS has not authorized them to do, and NLHS would not seem to have the authority to allow Teladoc to do such things as de-identify or disclose data for advertising or other commercial purposes,” Harvey said.
He said it is the health authority’s responsibility to ensure Teladoc is complying with the terms of its agreement.
“If we had reason to believe that there was mishandling of personal health information, then we could trigger an investigation, but we have not seen any such information,” Harvey said.
“While we are watching the allegations of misuse in the United States with concern, we note that as yet these are allegations and they are in another jurisdiction.
“An individual could bring a complaint if they have a ‘reasonable belief’ that personal health information is being handled in a manner contrary to the (Personal Health Information) Act. If we received such a complaint we would need to examine the facts and determine if that threshold was met,” Harvey said.