By rdnewsNOW staff

Red Deer

Former AHS employee pleads guilty to illegally accessing health information

Oct 9, 2019 | 11:10 AM

A former billing clerk with Alberta Health Services (AHS) has been fined $8,000 and sentenced to one year of probation with conditions, after pleading guilty in Red Deer Provincial Court to knowingly accessing health information in contravention of the Health Information Act (HIA).

Amarish Tripathi admitted on Sept. 30 to improperly accessing the health records of 81 individuals on 471 occasions.

According to officials with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, the unauthorized accesses occurred at the Michener Centre in Red Deer where Tripathi had been employed.

The conditions on his probation include attending treatment and counselling as directed, and to not be employed in a position that gives him access to health information for one year.

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) opened an offence investigation into Mr. Tripathi’s unauthorized accesses of health information after AHS reported the breaches in May 2018.

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Upon conclusion of its investigation, the OIPC referred findings to the Specialized Prosecutions Branch of Alberta Justice. Charges were laid in June 2019.

Government officials say it is an offence under HIA to knowingly gain or attempt to gain access to health information in contravention of the Act (section 107(2)(b)), adding this was the fourth such conviction in 2019.

There have been 13 convictions in total for unauthorized access to health information under HIA since 2001. Officials also point-out this was the second case in which one of the conditions was for the convicted not to access health information for one year.