9.3 Access to Patient Information in PharmaNet

General Policy Description

Access to patient information in PharmaNet is subject to the Pharmaceutical Services Act and the Information Management Regulation.

Policy Details

Access at community pharmacies

Under the Pharmaceutical Services Act and its Information Management Regulation, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians may access medical and claims history in PharmaNet if they are working at a pharmacy that is enrolled as a PharmaCare provider.

Individuals such as pharmacy assistants who are accessing PharmaNet on behalf of a pharmacist must do so at the direction of the pharmacist and under the same requirements and scope as the pharmacist they are acting on behalf of at the time.

Under the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act (PODSA) Bylaw 35(2) (PDF, 353KB), registrants of the College of Pharmacists of BC (CPBC) can only access a patient's PharmaNet record:

• To dispense a drug
• To provide patient consultation
• To evaluate a patient's drug usage, and/or
• For the purposes of claims adjudication and payment by an insurer

Access by patients

A patient may request a printed copy of their PharmaNet patient record (dispensing history) through a pharmacy or the Ministry of Health, or they can view it in Health Gateway. They can also request a copy of their record from a local pharmacy, which would contain only the medications that were dispensed by that pharmacy. 

While a community pharmacy can print a patient’s locally stored record, it cannot print the PharmaNet patient record. Instead, the pharmacy submits the request to the Ministry of Health. Pharmacists can use their local system software to request the PharmaNet record.

If the client requests the record through the pharmacy, it gets mailed to them. If they request it through the Ministry of Health, they must go to a pharmacy to pick it up so the pharmacy can confirm the correct person receives the profile.

Patients may use HLTH 5551 - Consent for Release of PharmaNet Patient Record (PDF, 998KB) to request either:

• A current PharmaNet patient record, which includes the patient’s demographic information, clinical information, adverse drug reaction information, and medication history of all the dispenses within the last 14 months, or
• An archived PharmaNet patient record, which includes a record of medications dispensed beyond the past 14 months or in a specific date range. Records can be requested from September 1, 1995, onward (when PharmaNet was implemented)
• The PharmaNet patient record does not contain information about the cost of the medication or how much was covered by PharmaCare. For this information, clients can submit an HLTH 2942 - Authorization to Release Medical Records

Each access to a patient profile in PharmaNet is recorded even when there is no associated dispense. A printed PharmaNet patient profile provided by the Ministry of Health or a pharmacy will include a list of all accesses made to the patient’s profile, including access that is not associated with a prescription fill.

Patients may also freely access their PharmaNet medication dispensing history as far back as 1995 online using their Health Gateway account. The Gateway does not include all fields of the patient’s PharmaNet record, or the record of accesses made to the profile.

Related resources:

Section 9.5 – Patient Records

HLTH 5551 - Consent for Release of PharmaNet Patient Record (PDF, 998KB)

How to get your PharmaNet patient record

Access for research

Access to PharmaNet patient information for health research is subject to the Pharmaceutical Services Act. All research access to PharmaNet, including clinical research, must be approved by the Ministry of Health’s Data Stewardship Committee (DSC). The DSC also reviews requests to use PharmaNet data to contact individuals to request participation in health research prior to their assessment by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.

Visit PharmaNet data requests web pages for further information.

PharmaNet access restrictions

These restrictions ensure patient and practitioner privacy are protected according to B.C. legislation.

Locale and site access restrictions

Unless a specific exception is made by the Ministry of Health, all access to PharmaNet must occur when the user is physically located at an approved PharmaNet site, and access by on-behalf-of users must occur when they are located at the same approved site as the registrant on whose behalf a given access is made.

Under the Information Management Regulation, all access to PharmaNet must occur when the authorized PharmaNet user is physically located in B.C. There are no exceptions.

Any online PharmaNet claim must be processed by the B.C. site (that is, it cannot be processed remotely from another location), and any personal information derived from that claim or from PharmaNet in general must remain in B.C.

Physicians and nurse practitioners working in private community health practices may request approval from the Ministry of Health to access PharmaNet outside of a registered site, if the registered site has first been approved to provide it to them. Refer to Remote access [linked to section above]

Device restrictions

All devices used to access PharmaNet must comply with privacy and security requirements set by the Ministry of Health. Any used for remote access must also comply with the specific requirements for remote access. Both are included in organization agreements and user terms of access