OPP’s health fraud investigation unit has charged a former Belleville, Ont., nurse for accessing a significant amount of personal health information.
In 2018, OPP say the nurse’s employer conducted a random audit of staff internet browsing history.
This audit brought up “apparent breaches under the Personal Health Information Protection Act,” according to OPP, which led the employer to contact the OPP.
For a previous story done in January 2019, Quinte Health Care told Global News that one of their long-time employees had been let go for looking through hundreds of digital files from patients she had never cared for.
Quinte Health Care said they were confident that “none of the records were copied or downloaded to print or send anywhere else.”
After over a year of investigation, OPP have charged Kimberley Ann Hokkanen, 59, of Centre Hastings, a former nurse with Quinte Health Care, with 69 counts of use of personal health information.
OPP would not specify how many patients were affected and what Hokkanen was doing with the personal information.
“I can confirm this was a significant unauthorized use of personal health information with a significant impact,” an OPP spokesperson.
Quinte Health Care refused any additional comment and referred Global News to the OPP now that charges have been laid.
Hokkanen is scheduled to appear in a Belleville court on Sep. 3, 2020.
More information to come.
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