Alberta Netcare
Alberta Netcare (formerly Wellnet) is the province of Alberta's public Electronic Health Record.
Users
There are three main categories of Netcare users:
- Health service providers (physicians)
- Diagnostic laboratories
- Drug dispensing locations (pharmacies)
Netcare allows authorized physicians to view the medical records of patients. Pharmacies can use the service to verify prescription details, and to upload medication dispensations.
Information Stored and Accessed
The patient's health record is stored on Netcare. Information like medications, doctor's visits, medical conditions, basic patient information (e.g. allergies), referrals, test results, etc. are stored on the record. Doctors can also print out diagnostic testing requisitions from Netcare and prescribe medications very quickly.
Implementation
Netcare messaging is performed with HL7-encoded XML messages.
Messages are sent and received over a secure HTTP connection.
Security
Netcare uses a two-factor authentication protocol involving a username/password combination, and an RSA SecurID Key Fob for authentication. Users who are within the trusted networks of the Government of Alberta (e.g. hospitals) do not require the RSA key for login.
The SSL certificate for the login portal is TLS_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA, 112 bit keys, TLS 1.2.
Security Failures
From May 15–29, 2009 a Trojan virus was detected on several Alberta Health and Netcare systems, compromising the privacy of 11,582 Edmonton area patients.
See also
External links
- Alberta Netcare official site
- Alberta Netcare Remote Login Portal
- Alberta Privacy Commissioner preliminary report on the May breach