Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP): Member Eligibility Review (MER)

Description

Health Canada is committed to ensuring that eligible Canadian residents who have access to the CDCP meet the eligibility requirements. In October 2024, Health Canada's Oral Health Branch (OHB) started reviewing CDCP member's self-attestation of not having access to employer and pension provided dental coverage in their application. Members whose attestation does not align with information from their T4- Box 45 for employer-offered dental benefits or T4A - Box 015 for pension-offered dental benefits are required to submit documentation demonstrating that they meet eligibility.

Why a Privacy Impact Assessment was completed

As per Section C.2.2.9 of the Treasury Board Directive on Privacy Practices, the CDCP MER activity met the following criteria to initiate a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA):

• When undertaking a new program or activity that will involve the creation, collection, use, disclosure, retention or disposal of personal information for an administrative purpose.

Additional information

Health Canada identified five risks in this PIA including the CDCP member eligibility review (MER) letters that request personal information which need to be updated to include a privacy notice; limiting the collection of personal information which is necessary to administer the CDCP MER process; limiting the retention of personal information by program partners; updating standard operating procedures to include guidance for the protection of personal information, and updating the CDCP personal information bank (PIB) to fully describe the CDCP MER process. The PIA included an action plan to address the identified risks, and Health Canada aims to implement this plan by the end of Quarter 1 2025/26.

Related Personal Information Banks

The relevant PIB for this activity is the CDCP PIB – HC PPU 440.

For more information about this Privacy Impact Assessment

If you would like more information about this Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) please contact DentalEnquiries-DemandesDentaires@hc-sc.gc.ca