Inscyte
Corporation
Helping to eradicate cervical cancer in Ontario since 1996
About Inscyte
Inscyte Corporation is a not-for-profit organization created in 1996 by a consortium of Ontario Medical Laboratories and Cancer Care Ontario (now Ontario Health). Inscyte's mission is to collect cervical cancer screening results on Ontario patients, in standardized format and nomenclature, to provide insights into the progression of cervical cancer, and to improve the quality of testing, treatments and outcomes.
The current member laboratories are:
- Life Labs
- Dynacare Health
- Medical Laboratories of Windsor
These laboratories perform over 90% of the cervical cancer screening tests in Ontario.
About Cytobase
CytoBase is a centralized database that contains the results of cervical cancer screening tests performed throughout Ontario by the member laboratories. It is a population-wide electronic health record for cervical cancer screening in Ontario.
The primary function of CytoBase is to provide patient histories to laboratories as new tests are ordered. Since cervical cancer is a slowly progressing disease, previous results on individual patients are deemed to be essential to improving the quality of interpreting new specimens.
CytoBase also tracks women with abnormal screening results and produces reminders for primary care physicians to ensure women with abnormal results obtain appropriate and timely follow-up.
Patient Privacy
Inscyte Corporation is designated as a "Prescribed Person" under regulation 329/04 of Ontario's Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (the Act).
This means Inscyte Corporation is permitted to collect, use and disclose personal health information without individual patient consent for the benefit of public health and to improve healthcare services in Ontario.
The operations of Inscyte are regularly reviewed by the Office of the Information and Privacy commissioner of Ontario to ensure compliance with the Act and that Inscyte has written approved policies and procedures in respect of the collection, use, safeguarding and disclosure of personal health information.