N.W.T. tightens medical fax policies

Health officials in the Northwest Territories have tightened their policies for sending confidential medical documents by fax, after patient files were mistakenly faxed to the CBC on four recent occasions.

Health authority leaders from across the territory met Friday to discuss the errant medical faxes, which landed in the CBC's Yellowknife newsroom over the past two months.

The files contained patients' names, birthdates, prescription information and medical test results, among other information.

All four faxing mistakes were blamed on human error, because the fax numbers had been dialed incorrectly.

Must use cover sheets

As a result of Friday's meeting, health officials agreed to enforce their medical faxing policy, now requiring staff to include cover sheets with each confidential patient fax they send.

The cover sheets must include warnings that the confidential information contained in the faxes are for the sole use of the intended recipient.

Health officials have also agreed to require recipient fax numbers to be programmed into the fax machines at health-care facilities.

In cases where a fax machine does not have preprogrammed fax numbers, health-care staff must follow a "double-checking" policy, which requires two staff members to oversee the faxing of a confidential document.

Fax freezes lifted

In the most recent faxing mistake, the Stanton Territorial Health Authority in Yellowknife accidentally faxed a patient's test results to the CBC on Monday.

After that mistake was revealed, Stanton authority CEO Kay Lewis imposed a temporary freeze on any faxing of confidential medical information except in emergencies.

The N.W.T. Health Department imposed a similar freeze for health authorities across the whole territory. The fax freezes were lifted Friday.

Lewis told CBC News that all staff will be informed of the updated policy.

Lewis said it's impossible to eliminate human error entirely, but health staff are working to minimize the risk of mistakes.

She added that the Northwest Territories' plan to roll out an electronic health records system should further lower the risk of faxes being accidentally sent to the wrong places.