A year-long investigation into an alleged privacy breach in the Health Ministry has cost about $2.5 million — and has yet to produce a final report for the public or police.
The investigation has been large and complex, says the Health Ministry, and there are costs associated with delving into it and making sure that improvements are made “to protect and properly manage British Columbians’ data.”
About $1.5 million of the costs are related to notifying 38,000 B.C. residents that their health data was inappropriately accessed, a ministry spokesperson said Thursday. That includes a mail out and setting up and staffing a phone line and call centre.
About $600,000 was spent on a review by Deloitte and Touche to assess how the ministry secures, releases and tracks data that is provided to researchers.
Other costs include the salaries and benefits of Health Ministry and Public Service Agency staff “who have had to sift through large amounts of information and review a significant amount of documentation,” the ministry said.
The figure does not include any legal fees, which are protected by solicitor-client privilege, the spokesperson said.
The probe began in May 2012 over allegations of conflict of interest and inappropriate conduct, data management and contracting out focused on the ministry’s pharmaceutical services division.
The investigation has resulted in drug researchers losing access to Health Ministry data. Seven ministry staff and two contractors have been dismissed.
Subsequently, five civil lawsuits and six grievances have been filed — requiring the government to defend itself and, in some cases, former health minister Margaret MacDiarmid.
The year-to-date and projected legal costs of the investigation and the government’s defence in civil lawsuits and labour procedures could not be immediately produced by the Health Ministry on Thursday.
