Saskatchewan Health Minister Don McMorris says the province won't share patient information with hospital foundations until it clarifies how former patients can opt out. (CBC)

Saskatchewan's health minister says he won't share patient information with hospital fundraising foundations before he can tell patients how to opt out.

The provincial government's plan to amend privacy rules in order to allow the names and addresses of recent hospital patients to be used for fundraising has drawn criticism from the province's privacy commissioner and the NDP.

The amendment, which was approved in April, came into effect this month.

Health Minister Don McMorris now says the government won't release any information until it determines how people who don't want to participate can opt out.

"We are going to take our time on this, because we know the sensitivity, and so what I would just do is ask the general public to be patient," he said.

"When we have the information regarding opting out, we are going to make that public … then people will have the opportunity to opt out."

Premier Brad Wall recently said that people who wanted to opt out could contact McMorris's office directly.

But McMorris said that won't work.

"There are some [people] that feel comfortable opting out when they're in the hospital, or two months after, some may want to opt out before. Those are the details that are being worked out between the ministry and the health regions," he said.

"We're not rushing into this at all because we want to make sure that we've thought of all the options."

The privacy commissioner has said the government should let people who want to share their information opt in rather than having to opt out. The NDP agrees.

The province says it won't make any changes, but will review the program after one year to evaluate how well it's working.

The patient information will be shared with hospital foundations so they can contact patients directly for donations. A spokesperson for the Hospitals of Regina Foundations has said donations will only be solicited by mail and that no telemarketers would contact former patients.