CALGARY — A former billing clerk with Alberta Health Services has been fined $8,000 and sentenced to a year of probation with conditions after pleading guilty to improperly accessing the records of 81 patients on 471 occasions.
Amarish Tripathi pleaded guilty Sept. 30 in Red Deer Provincial Court to knowingly accessing health information, contravening the Health Information Act.
The unauthorized accesses happened at the Michener Centre in Red Deer, where Tripathi worked and the investigation was launched in May 2018.
Following an investigation by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, the findings were forwarded to the Specialized Prosecutions Branch of Alberta Justice and charges were laid in June.
There have been 13 convictions of people improperly accessing health records, including four this year.
Tripathi’s probation conditions include attending treatment and counselling when directed and not being employed in a position that gives him access to health records for one year.
