Ex-AHS clerk pleads guilty to illegally accessing health information of 52 Albertans

A former billing clerk with Alberta Health Services (AHS) pleaded guilty forillegally accessing the health records of 52 Albertans.

AHS began an internal audit of itselectronichealthrecords systemafter being alerted to allegations thatRosario Aldavehad accessed the healthinformation without authorization.

After the breaches were confirmed, AHS notified theOffice of the Information and Privacy Commissioner in June 2018, which did its own investigation, leading to charges against Aldave in July 2019.

"It is an offence under HIA[Health Information Act] to knowingly gain or attempt to gain access tohealthinformation in contravention of the Act," the office of the commissioner said in a release.

This was the second conviction against an individual for knowingly accessing health information in contravention of HIA in 2019, and marked the 11th conviction under HIA overall.

Aldave received a $5,000 fine and was ordered not to access health information for one year.