NEGATIVE — MEDICAL — DISADVANTAGES 259
PRIVACY CONTROLS LEAD TO MEDICATION ERRORS AND DRUG REACTIONS
DISCLOSURE OF PHARMACY RECORDS CAN PROTECT PATIENTS FROM HARM
Amy Goldstein, The Washington Post, August 23, 1999, SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A01 TITLE: Long Reach Into Patients' Privacy; New Uses of Data Illustrate Potential Benefits, Hazards // acs-EE2001
The company is part of a relatively new breed known as pharmacy benefit managers, which take a decidedly different view of such situations. They say that maintaining computerized records about what drugs patients take allows them to recommend less expensive medications, prevent people from taking a drug longer than recommended and warn people of the dangerous effects of taking the wrong combination of medicines.
PHARMACY RECORD DISCLOSURE HELPS PATIENTS AVOID HARMFUL DRUG INTERACTIONS
Amy Goldstein, The Washington Post, August 23, 1999, SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A01 TITLE: Long Reach Into Patients' Privacy; New Uses of Data Illustrate Potential Benefits, Hazards // acs-EE2001
The use of data by pharmacy benefit managers, such as the company that stopped Mimi from getting her headache medicine, has emerged as another major frontier in the privacy battles. Jim Bigl, the president of that company, York Prescription Benefits, said his company was "ultra-conservative" in protecting patients' confidentiality. He said it intervenes only if a patient appears to be taking an unsafe mixture of drugs or when a health plan believes a patient has so many doctors that they might not know all the medicines the patient was taking.
PHARMACY RECORD DISCLOSURE HELPS AVOID UNNECESSARY DRUGS AND VIOLATIONS OF MEDICAL GUIDELINES
Amy Goldstein, The Washington Post, August 23, 1999, SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A01 TITLE: Long Reach Into Patients' Privacy; New Uses of Data Illustrate Potential Benefits, Hazards // acs-EE2001
Other similar companies have a more expansive view of their role. Merck-Medco Managed Care, a large company that dispensed 53 million prescriptions last year, reviews individual patients' drug claims and, without telling them, routinely writes doctors urging them to consider switching the patient to a similar but less expensive medication -- or to stop prescribing a drug that the patient has been taking for longer than standard medical guidelines recommend.
MEDICAL PRIVACY PROTECTIONS MIGHT INCREASE MEDICATION ERRORS AND HARM THE USE OF DRUGS
Drug Store News, March 20, 2000, Pg. 29 TITLE: NEW PRIVACY PROPOSALS COULD HAMPER CARE, NACDS WARNS // acs-VT2001
Specifically, the organization told lawmakers it is "concerned about the impact proposed regulations could have on the [ability] of pharmacy providers to continue to develop and deliver cost-effective pharmacy services These drug therapy management services include medication compliance programs, drug formulary interchange programs, disease management and drug utilization review. These programs help improve the use of medications, and reduce the incidence of medication errors."
ACCESS TO MEDICAL RECORDS IS CRITICAL FOR EFFECTIVE USE OF MEDICATIONS
Drug Store News, March 20, 2000, Pg. 29 TITLE: NEW PRIVACY PROPOSALS COULD HAMPER CARE, NACDS WARNS // acs-VT2001
While supporting the overall goal of protecting patient privacy, NACDS argued last month that overzealous restrictions on the flow of medical records could jeopardize treatment options by physicians, pharmacists and other members of the health system.
"With our healthcare system looking to community pharmacy to implement innovative programs to help patients manage their use of increasingly complex medications, pharmacy must have the ability to access patient treatment data that is necessary to manage drug therapy programs," said Larry Kocot, NACDS general counsel and senior vice president for government affairs.
"We are concerned that these new requirements, absent federal preemption of state-based confidentiality laws, simply add another layer of conflicting privacy requirements with new costs and administrative burdens," he added.