Province contracts out MSP information to Maximus BC

A Private Matter - special report by Dan Hilborn
Published Nov. 6, 2004


Critics of the provincial government are livid after Health Services Minister Colin Hansen signed a 10-year, $324-million deal Thursday afternoon to contract out the information services program for the B.C. Medical Services Plan and Pharmacare.

"Like most British Columbians, I am angry," said George Heyman, president of the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union. "I believe this government has doublecrossed us."

Heyman and Darrell Evans of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, believe the contract could put British Columbian's private medical records at risk to being obtained by the American government under the terms of the USA Patriot Act.

The two critics disagree vehemently with B.C. Management Services Minister Joyce Murray's belief that recent changes to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act are enough to safeguard the personal information of British Columbians.

Evans said that prior to signing the contract, the government should have enacted the 16 recommendations made by B.C. Privacy Commissioner David Loukidelis in his Oct. 29 report into the possible impacts of the USA Patriot Act.

"We called for a moratorium on all contracting out until all 16 recommendations are implemented," Evans said. "There are already a couple hundred contracts that exist, and all that information is totally up for grabs. And American laws take precedence."

But Hansen insisted that the contract with Maximus BC contains enough safeguards to ensure that the private records of British Columbians will stay within the province. Those safeguards include:

- all data storage and access must be based solely in Canada, and can only be changed with the province's express consent.

- all Maximus BC directors must be resident Canadians;

- the data must not be remotely accessed from outside Canada;

- special restrictions will be placed on the data access and supervision requirements of U.S. employees working in Canada on transition and transformation activities;

- all employees and subcontractors who have access to the data will sign nondisclosure agreements;

- a whistle-blower line will be set up for employees; and

- the province can take over the operations of Maximus BC in the event of a potential disclosure of personal information.

"This is the first major B.C. contract to be signed since the passage of new, tougher privacy protection legislation," Hansen said in the press release announcing the contract. "we have assessed the Maximus BC agreement against the commissioner's recommendations and have determined that the contract meets or exceeds those recommendations."

Heyman said the decision to sign the contract shows that the provincial government is putting corporate interests ahead of the public interest.

"This government requested commentary from the privacy commissioner that they clearly had no intention of paying attention to," he said. "I think British Columbian's personal medical records, such as their drug history or whether they've been treated for a mental illness, is at risk."

Heyman said the BCGEU believes the contract violates both the B.C. Medicare Protection Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. "We'll be pursuing this issue in court on behalf of all British Columbians," he said.

Heyman also denied allegations that the union is only speaking up because it wants to protect its members' jobs. "Our members have all been offered work by Maximus. This is a public policy issue pure and simple," he said.

The B.C. Persons with AIDS Society also came out against the contract.

"Regardless of all the plausible but ultimately empty safeguards trotted out by the minister this afternoon in defence of the deal, the simple and inescapable fact remains that Maximus BC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Maximus Inc.," said BCPWA chairperson Paul Lewand.

"Especially in the face of the decisive reelection of the George W. Bush Republicans and the consequent likely extension of the most offensive provisions of the USA Patriot Act, this deal places the personal medical records of every British Columbian within easy reach of the American FBI and, under the terms of the U.S. Homeland Security Act, the entire array of U.S. federal government agencies."