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18 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday January 25, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com January Warehouse Privacy commissioner satisfied Unbeatable Savings up to 50% There's never been a better time to buy Quality home furnishing at unbeatable prices! Genuine Leather Sofa/Loveseat IN STOCK SPECIAL $ Sale 1999 $ 2 PCS By Joan Walters SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER $ 3499 SPECIAL OFFER Pair of Recliners NOW 999 $ 1499 FOR PAIR Great fabric selection KING BED SALE Great styles to choose from $ 1299 100% Solid Maple King Size Bed NOW $ 1999 LIMITED QUANTITY Don't miss out on these great savings! Heritage Furniture Since 1977 4205 Fairview St. Burlington · 905-634-5298 The Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner's office says it is satisfied with steps taken by a private sector company that helps doctors collect billings from patients. The investigation into Healthscreen Solutions Inc., which was under scrutiny for failing to disclose its involvement in doctor billings to up to two million Ontario patients, has ended. The IPC probe followed a series of reports by Metroland West Media Group papers into Healthscreen's involvement in helping doctors send letters to patients for uninsured services. The newspaper series found that hundreds of thousands of patients were unknowingly sending personal information to Healthscreen when signing up for extended fee plans with doctors. A Healthscreen service known as CallerMD acts on behalf of approximately 1,000 Ontario physicians by billing patients for such things as prescription renewals over the phone at $15 apiece or sick notes at $20 each. Nearly two million letters asking patients to participate in annual payment plans for the uninsured services had been sent out over doctors' signatures. The letters appeared to come from doctors, but nowhere in the information provided to patients was the involvement of Healthscreen disclosed. Healthscreen has voluntarily "re-designed the letter it sends out to patients so that Healthscreen is clearly identified" as acting on the doctors' behalf, the privacy commission said. The commission also said it has reviewed Healthscreen's general security measures and is satisfied that "strong safeguards" are in place to protect the personal health information from patients that the company holds. CallerMD generally gets a patient's name, address, phone number, date of birth, gender, physician's name and date of last appointment, the commission said. In some cases CallerMD also receives the patient's service history, OHIP codes and diagnostic information. The commission does not say what all the privacy protections within Healthscreen are, except that they have been detailed to the commission. "Healthscreen has always taken the protection of private information very seriously," said Justin Belobaba, President and CEO of Healthscreen. "We look forward to continuing to ensure that we maintain best practices in privacy and transparency." A publicly traded company, Healthscreen promises to provide an average of $18,000 in extra revenue per doctor per year through CallerMD billings for uninsured services, and other services. The company also helps doctors take advantage of provincial government incentives for preventive care. Ontario has a $100-million incentive pool which offers up to $11,000 per year to doctors who make sure that a certain percentage of patients receive preventive procedures such as mammograms, colorectal cancer tests or flu shots. Healthscreen said in its fourth quarter report, issued last week, that the company's OHIP billing and patient scheduling software alone handles more than $1.5 billion in healthcare transactions a year. 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