Medical Identification Number of Canada (MINC)

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NB:  For current information on MINC, please check the orientation guide [pdf].

The increasingly complex, inter-related and computerized medical system in Canada has made the accurate and reliable identification of physicians (as well as medical students and physicians in postgraduate training) a significant problem. Many medical/health organizations have attempted to resolve this by issuing their own identifiers for their physicians. The result has been a proliferation of identifiers, none of which is linkable with identifiers in other databases, giving rise to difficulty when trying to identify physicians between databases.

In response to this problem all of the medical licensing authorities in Canada, including the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Newfoundland & Labrador (the “College”) have endorsed the development of an identification system to provide physicians with a unique, lifetime, nationally-recognized standard identifier called the MINC number (Medical Identification Number for Canada). This identifier has been developed through the collaborative efforts of the Federation of Medical Licensing Authorities of Canada (of which the College is a member) and the Medical Council of Canada.

For the individual physician, the major benefit will be the ease and certainty of identification when applying for registration in a new jurisdiction, applying for privileges, or dealing with any organization which maintains a listing or database of physicians and which is a licensed user of the MINC number. There will be no cost to physicians or to the College to obtain a MINC number for physicians. Physicians will not have to complete an application form. With the physician’s authorization the College will submit the necessary registration information to MINC# NIMC, the operation of the MINC system.

MINC numbers will:

• be a unique lifetime identifier assigned to every individual who enters the Canadian medical educational or practice systems;
  
• be recognized by medical organizations nation-wide;
  
• be a simple serial number with no encoded information, e.g., CAMD-9999-9999 (i.e. it will not be possible to determine from the MINC number the physician’s personal information). It is simply an identification number;
  
• be issued by a central hub computer, at the request of one of the Canadian medical licensing authorities;
  
• be held as confidential personal information by licensed users;
  
• not replace a physician’s licensed registration number, LMCC number, provincial billing number (if any), nor any other identification number that the physician currently has;
  
• not convey any status, rights or privileges;
  
• not change the way in which any information concerning physicians is released.
  

In order for a MINC number to be generated for physicians, the medical licensing authorities are requested to provide the physicians’ name (plus previous names, if applicable), their gender, their date and country of birth, the university which granted their medical degree and their year of graduation, to the MINC database. Medical students will have their medical school and expected year of graduation submitted.

The MINC system is governed by strict confidentiality provisions, and adheres to the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information.

All personal information will be treated as confidential by the MINC database. Personal information will only be disclosed to other licensing authorities or to licensed users on a need to know basis.

During the last year all physicians licensed by the College have received a mailed request to authorize the College to submit a MINC number application on their behalf. The response has been excellent but a number of physicians have still not responded. As it is anticipated that once the MINC system is fully operational all medical licensing authorities will require applicants to provide (or to be provided with) a MINC number as a part of the registration process, the College encourages all physicians to authorize the College to submit a MINC application on their behalf. Physicians have not submitted to the College their authorization form are advised to contact the office of the College and an authorization form will be sent to them for completion.

When a physician’s MINC number has been generated, the College will inform the physician of the MINC number. Implementation of the MINC system has been completed in a number of provinces. It is anticipated that the remainder of the provinces will follow shortly.

Further information is available from the MINC website at http://www.minc-nimc.ca or from the College.