B.C. government inhibiting access to health data: former Pharmacare consultant

A former Ministry of Health worker says B.C. government's firing of seven health researchers in 2012 has made it increasingly difficult for other researchers to access health data which could potentially improve the welfare of British Columbians.

"The massive overreaction of the current provincial government to the allegations of sloppiness around data security has brought in a big chill," said Rick Hudson. 

He worked for the Ministry of Health and was a medical consultant to B.C.'s Pharmacare program, which assists B.C. residents in paying for eligible prescription drugs and designated medical supplies.

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Hudson says the chill is unfortunate and potentially detrimental to British Columbians because limiting access to programs such as PharmaNet, a unified system that physicians and pharmacists use to track which drugs patients use, prevents researchers from improving the quality of prescribing as well as ensuring the most efficient and cost-effective drugs are being used.

Program aided health researchers

Hudson says there was immediate interest from health services researchers when the program was created in the early 1990s because it helped them learn how drugs were prescribed to the overall population and how the public reacted to new drugs coming on to the market.

"It is not to much that the researchers don't remain very interested in what they can learn about how drugs are being used [and] what kind of rates of adverse reactions we are seeing. But the provincial government here is very loathe to undertake any more research because of what happened a couple of years ago."

In September 2012 seven health researchers and one UVic co-op student were fired for allegedly improperly accessing government data.

Documents released earlier this month show the RCMP were never given evidence by the government to investigate the wrongdoing which was used to justify the firings, despite the government telling the public an investigation was ongoing. 

The government has since admitted it was a "regrettable mistake."

Security concerns unwarranted

While Hudson understands there are concerns about improper use of private health data, he doesn't think they are warranted.

"My understanding is that [PharmaNet] is still working fairly well. It probably needs to be upgraded, but in terms of data breaches and the protection of privacy I feel like it is still doing a good job."

To hear the full interview with Rick Hudson, listen to the audio labelled Former B.C. Pharmacare consultant on health firings.