Provincial Health Registry

Saskatchewan Health maintains the Provincial Health Registry. This registry contains electronic information about current and former Saskatchewan residents who/ were entitled to receive insured health services from the province, such as physician visits and hospital stays. The registry also includes information about individuals applying to become beneficiaries of the provincial health insurance scheme.

The registry includes each beneficiary’s full name, address, telephone number(s), date of birth, gender, marital status, Health Services Number, family unit members, family number, level of coverage, coverage effective and expiry dates, alternate personal identification document numbers (e.g. former province health card, driver’s license, birth certificate, passport, Canada visa, Indian Registry number), and contact name.

The registry is used by the Ministry to:

• verify a person’s eligibility for insured services which includes paying for physician visits and hospital stays;
• issue and distribute health cards and validation stickers;
• make payments to health professionals for public programs such as the Saskatchewan Prescription Drug Plan and physician services;
• establish prescription drug plan deductibles for eligible families;
• conduct research; and
• verify residency for health programs and services such as immunization, acquired brain injury and changes of name.

Saskatchewan Health takes seriously the privacy and confidentiality of your personal health information in its custody. When making decisions about disclosing health registry information to other organizations, the Ministry first determines if there is a legal authority to release the information. If a legislated authority exists, the Ministry then considers whether the organization needs to know the information and will ensure that only staff who have a need to know have access to that information. Saskatchewan Health also uses established policies and/or practices to support its decisions for use and disclosure of your registry information.

When Saskatchewan health care providers, other Provincial Departments or Federal Government Departments or Agencies request a disclosure of the provincial health registry information, the Ministry considers the disclosure provisions of The Health Information Protection Act (HIPA) and the organization’s need to know the registry information. In most cases, these organizations are requesting verification that an individual is eligible for insured health services or is a resident of Saskatchewan. Health care providers such as ambulance operators, medical laboratories and medical clinics make this type of request in order to receive payment for the services they provide.

Examples of provincial non-health programs that make this type of request would be post-secondary student financial assistance programs, the student registration and tracking programs, and the agriculture rebate/subsidy programs. Saskatchewan Health also provides organizations such as Citizenship and Immigration Canada with this type of information to assist with confirming residency and eligibility for insured services.

Other organizations may be provided with provincial health registry information on a case-by-case basis. Law firms, private insurers and funeral homes, for example, must provide a written request for the information. In these situations, the Ministry determines whether the individual in question has given consent to release the information to the organization and if this is not present, determines whether HIPA has provided a legal authority for the disclosure.