This is what makes PHIPA vs PIPEDA an important question for Canadian businesses. PIPEDA covers personal information used in certain commercial activities. PHIPA applies to personal health information handled by specific healthcare providers and other parties in Ontario. However, not every Ontario business that collects health information falls under PHIPA.
The answer depends on what your business does with the data and where the information is sent. In some situations, many privacy laws could apply.
So, how do you find out which rules your business needs to follow? In the next sections, you will learn how these laws work and who must comply with them.
Which Privacy Law Applies to Your Business?
Step 1: Determine Whether You Handle Personal Information or Personal Health Information
Check what Personal Information your business collects. Then also check whether someone could use Personal Information to identify a person.
For example, an email address collected for a newsletter or an employee’s contact details count as Personal Information.
PHIPA defines Personal Health Information specifically. PHIPA includes information about:
A person’s physical or mental health and medical history
Diagnoses, prescriptions and treatments received
Healthcare appointments and plans of care
Eligibility for healthcare and related payments
A wellness app may collect details about someone’s health too. That alone does not mean PHIPA applies to the company running it.
Step 2: Determine Whether You Are a PHIPA Health Information Custodian
Under PHIPA, a health information custodian (HIC) must fall within one of the categories defined by law. These include:
Healthcare practitioners and operators of group practices
Hospitals and pharmacies
Medical laboratories and specimen collection centres
Other healthcare facilities and services specified in legislation
Consider an Ontario physician who controls patient charts. Their legal position differs from that of a fitness app company collecting exercise data directly from users.
For PHIPA compliance in Canada, check Section 3 of the Act carefully. It defines who qualifies as a custodian and sets out important exceptions.
Step 3: Determine Whether You Are Acting as an Agent or Independent Organization
Does your company handle patient information on behalf of a healthcare provider? Or does it decide how to use that information for its own business?
This matters for EHR providers and appointment platforms. Cloud storage companies and AI medical scribes must also consider their role.
For example:
A SaaS company stores patient records for a clinic and follows its instructions. It may qualify as an agent under PHIPA. Ensuring patient data protection requires continuous monitoring and regular API security testing to prevent unauthorized access across cloud integrations
Step 4: Ask Whether the Processing Occurs During a Commercial Activity
Next, check whether your business collects or uses personal information as part of a commercial activity. This is one of the main factors that determines whether PIPEDA Canada applies.
Some examples include:
Selling products through an e-commerce website
Offering paid SaaS subscriptions
Running a commercial telehealth platform
Collecting customer details through lead generation
Managing customer accounts for paid services
Employee records are treated differently. PIPEDA applies to employee information in businesses that are federally regulated, like banks and airlines. It usually does not apply to employee records in private companies.
Step 5: Check Whether the Business Is Federally Regulated
Banks and telecom companies are federally regulated, along with airlines and certain rail and shipping operators.
PIPEDA applies to these businesses and also covers their employee information.
Before completing your Pipeda phipa compliance checklist, check if your business operates in a federally regulated sector. An Ontario address does not change which level of government regulates your business.
Step 6: Map Where the Information Travels
Where does the information go after your business collects it? It may stay in Ontario. It may pass through systems in another province or country.
Trace the routes your data takes:
Ontario clinic to a local data processor
Ontario business to a customer database in Alberta
Ontario SaaS provider to a cloud service in the United States
Ontario telehealth provider to a patient in another province
PIPEDA may apply when personal information crosses provincial or national borders as part of commercial activities. Include transfers handled by outside service providers in your review. Here, cybersecurity companies can help businesses assess data flows, identify security risks, and evaluate how third-party providers protect personal information during processing and transfers.
Source: https://qualysec.com/pipeda ...