The Washington Post reports that “the nation’s largest pharmacy chains have handed over Americans’ prescription records to police and government investigators without a warrant, a congressional investigation found, raising concerns about threats to medical privacy.
“Though some of the chains require their lawyers to review law enforcement requests, three of the largest — CVS Health, Kroger and Rite Aid, with a combined 60,000 locations nationwide — said they allow pharmacy staff members to hand over customers’ medical records in the store.”
According to the story, “The revelation could shape the debate over Americans’ expectations of privacy as Texas and other states move to criminalize abortion and drugs related to reproductive health.
“Pharmacies’ records hold some of the most intimate details of their customers’ personal lives, including years-old medical conditions and the prescriptions they take for mental health and birth control.
“Because the chains often share records across all locations, a pharmacy in one state can access a person’s medical history from states with more-restrictive laws.”
The Post notes that “the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, regulates how health information is used and exchanged among “covered entities” such as hospitals and doctor’s offices. But the law gives pharmacies leeway as to what legal standard they require before disclosing medical records to law enforcement.”
KC’s View:
Leeway? That’s a crock.
There is no excuse – absolutely no excuse – for companies to be handing over any of this personal information without a warrant. Consumers are trusting pharmacies with some of their most intimate healthcare information, and the idea that any of these companies are handing it over to law enforcement without a warrant is a violation of people’s privacy.
The Post story says that “officials with America’s eight biggest pharmacy giants — Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS, Walmart, Rite Aid, Kroger, Cigna, Optum Rx and Amazon Pharmacy — told congressional investigators that they required only a subpoena, not a warrant, to share the records. A subpoena can be issued by a government agency and, unlike a court order or warrant, does not require a judge’s approval. To obtain a warrant, law enforcement must persuade a judge that the information is vital to investigate a crime.”
Unless there is suspicion of a crime – enough to persuade a judge – none of this information ought to be accessible to law enforcement. Companies also ought to immediately inform customers that their records are being sought by law enforcement.
And the idea that a pharmacist in one state can provide information about customers in other states – well, that’s damned scary.
As far as I’m concerned, companies with pharmacies ought to immediately set in stone a rule that says no customer information will be provided to any law enforcement agency without a warrant. I’m not sure about the law on this, but I also think they ought to require that warrants need to be served in the state where the customer lives – a warrant in Texas, for example, ought not be able to get info on a customer in California.
These have to be corporate dictates, so that pharmacists cannot be pressured by local officials. The pharmacists need to know that as soon as they are asked for records, their first call has to be to a corporate attorney. No exceptions.
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