How HRDP-SK Works
Master Health Data Sharing Agreement
How the HRDP-SK is governed and administered
The HRDP-SK is governed by the MHDSA. The MHDSA was signed on August 1, 2022, by all Health data trustees/Health system partners in Saskatchewan. These includes the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health, eHealth Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Health Authority, Health Quality Council, Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, Health Shared Services Saskatchewan, and Saskatchewan Association of Health organizations. The MHDSA allows the HRPD-SK to hold individual-level data. However, HRDP-SK is not the trustee of any of the data holdings. The approval to access the data will depend on the assessment from data trustees.
Governance Framework
DM/CEO Council: This comprises of each Party’s representative at the DM/CEO Council. Their main function includes: 1) Signatory to Master Health Data Sharing Agreement, its Schedules, and Amendments, 2) Designate a presentative to the MHDSA Governance Committee, 3) Endorse a representative to the Policy & Procedure Committee.
MHDSA Governance Committee: This consists of designated individuals from each party of the DM/CEO Council. The main function of the Committee is to provide oversight and general governance over the administration, implementation and compliance with the terms and conditions of the MHDSA.
Policy & Procedure Committee: designated individuals from each party of the DM/CEO Council. The Committee is responsible for: 1) developing policies and procedures used to administer the MHDSA; 2) Develop new schedules or amendments to the MHDSA or its schedules as required for the operation of HRDP-SK; 3) Facilitate communications between the Parties and work to resolve any dispute, issue, incident, complaint or other concern arising in connection with data sharing and other activities contemplated by this Agreement; and other functions deemed necessary.
Trustee Authorization Committee: This Committee is a subset of the Policy and Procedure Committee. It is a temporary sub-committee comprised of representatives of the Trustee, Government Institution, or Local Authority organizations contributing data to each specific Data Access Request. Their responsibility includes: 1) facilitating communications regarding requests within their home organization and consult the content experts as needed.
Health Data Trustees
Dta currently available within the HRDP-SK belongs to the Ministry of Health and eHealth Saskatchewan. There are, however, several health organizations that have custody and control of personal information or personal health information:
• Saskatchewan Ministry of Health (MoH)
 
• eHealth Saskatchewan (eHealth)
 
• Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA)
 
• Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO)
 
• Health Shared Services Saskatchewan (3sHealth)
 
• Saskatchewan Health Quality Council (HQC)
 
• Saskatchewan Cancer Agency (SCA)
 
 
 
The Trustee organization (Trustee) is the legal entity responsible for the personal health information under The Health Information Protection Act. A Government Institution, defined the The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act or a Local Authority, defined in The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, may also be responsible for personal information in their custody and control. At this time, HRDP-SK only contains data sets of personal health information. 
 
Each Trustee is responsible for assessing each project and user of the HRDP-SK to ensure it aligns with the applicable legislation. The Trustee respresentatives are also a part of the team who creates the processes and policies that govern the HRDP-SK.
 
The HRDP-SK data access process adopts the Five Safes Framework to provide approved research team members (users) with controlled access to sensitive or confidential Data. No identifiable personal health information or personal information is disclosed and no one person can be identified. 
 
 
The basic premise of the Five Safes Framework is that data access is assessed to based on the following:
Safe Projects: Is the use of data appropriate?
Safe People: Can the researchers be trusted to use the data appropriately?
Safe Data: Is there a disclosure risk in the data itself?
Safe Settings: Does the access facility limit unauthorized use?
Safe Outputs: Are the statistical results non-disclosive?
 
Reference: Tanvi Desai & Felix Ritchie & Richard Welpton, 2016. "Five Safes: designing data access for research," Working Papers 20161601, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.