The Medical Identification Number for Canada Corporation

A medical identification number system has been developed with the goal of providing a reliable means of identifying every individual in the Canadian medical education and practice systems.

A not-for-profit corporation (whose legal name is noted above), known as “MINC#NIMC”, has been incorporated by the Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada (FMRAC) and the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) for the sole purpose of administering the Medical Identification Number of Canada (MINC) system.

A MINC will be issued to all individuals (who consent in writing) at the time of their initial, even temporary, entry to any aspect of the Canadian medical education or practice systems, including undergraduate students, postgraduate trainees, applicants to the MCC examinations, and physicians of any registration status. Once assigned, an individual’s MINC will remain unchanged throughout his/her entire medical career. Assigned numbers will never be reused, even after the death of the individual. Individuals will carry the same MINC, even if they leave Canada and return, move between jurisdictions or change registration status.

No information is encoded in an individual’s MINC, other than a country code (CA for Canada) and a profession code (MD for Medicine). The MINC does not imply any special privilege, rights or status; it is simply a series of letters and numbers for identification purposes.

Upon the consent of an individual, the MCC or a provincial/territorial medical regulatory authority will submit personal information to MINC#NIMC as follows: name(s), gender, date of birth, country of birth and year and university of graduation (note: previous names if applicable and other identifiers if necessary to confirm identity may also be submitted), collectively referred to as the Core Information.

MINC#NIMC will use Core Information to either generate or confirm a MINC for individuals and will retain the Core Information and its associated MINC in its system for the purposes of uniquely identifying individuals and ongoing identity confirmation by Prime and Licensed Users of the MINC system.

Not-for-profit and public sector organizations that are involved in the education, certification, licensure or professional practices of physicians in Canada may apply to MINC#NIMC for a license to use the MINC system as a means of:

• accurately identifying individuals with whom they have dealings
• processing information relating to those individuals, and linking or exchanging physician information with other Licensed or Primary Users for Approved Purposes such as the compilation of statistics, the development of profiles, the administration of programs or benefits, the management of the health system and research
• licensees agree to comply with MINC#NIMC’s Privacy Code, with privacy, security and confidentiality provisions, and with applicable privacy legislation as part of their licensing agreements

The MCC and the twelve Canadian medical regulatory authorities will have controlled access to both MINCs and Core Information in order to facilitate the performance of their regulatory responsibilities. The only information that shall be disclosed to Licensed Users shall be the MINCs for their own members.

For a more complete description of MINC#NIMC, including the details of its Privacy Code and a list of all Licensed Users and their approved uses, consult the MINC#NIMC website or contact MINC#NIMC directly at:

MINC#NIMC Corporation
c/o College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Colombia
300-669 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC Canada, V6C 0B4
Attention: Mr. Michael Epp, Executive Director
Tel.: 604-733-7758
Email: [email protected]