The Nova Scotia Personal Health Information Act (Bill 89) ↗︎ permits health information custodians to screen electronic health records with algorithms available through Ensho’s data labs for the purpose of risk management or patient safety within the custodian's organization.
Ensho Health Intelligent Systems Inc. (“Ensho”) is a health technology company whose mission is to empower healthcare providers to do more with data. We realize our mission through the development and application of algorithms that screen electronic health records for specific clinical use-cases deployed at our clinical data labs. Each data lab operates under the supervision of a Medical Director and performs computational analysis of electronic health records as a service to physicians. We conduct analyses by:
Processing the data we receive with our Apollo automated electronic data capture (“aEDC”) system;
Inputting the parameters we extract with Apollo to algorithms encoded in medical device software; and
Preparing reports summarizing the outcomes of our analyses.
Our algorithms are intended for use as decision support tools that aid physicians in improving the detection, treatment and management of patients with rare and complex cardiovascular, neurological and rheumatic disorders that are difficult to screen for or lack definitive biomarkers. Their intended use includes identifying individuals in which specific follow-up investigations may be clinically appropriate.
They can be ordered through PDF and HTML requisition forms by physicians that attest to their use in the diagnosis or detection of a disease, illness, impairment, symptom, syndrome, or disorder or in medical management.
Permitted use of personal health information by health information custodians is defined in Section 35 of the Nova Scotia PHIA ↗︎ which states in part (j) that custodians may use personal health information in their custody without prior consent:
for the purpose of risk management or patient safety within the custodian's organization
We require all healthcare providers to execute our PHIA-compliant services agreement and any data transfer authorizations required by their electronic medical record system service providers before we agree to process their data.
Physicians in Nova Scotia can send electronic health records for which they are custodians to our data labs for analysis in compliance with the Nova Scotia PHIA (Bill 89) if they plan on using the outputs to aid in diagnosis or detection of a disease, illness, impairment, symptom, syndrome, or disorder or in medical management. Doing so would qualify as a permitted use of personal health information for the purpose of risk management or patient safety within the custodian's organization.