Washington state bill aims to curb prescription data mining: Privacy at stake
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, March 10, 2008
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Legislators in Washington state are the latest to try to curb data mining by drug companies seeking prescription information, according to a February 28 article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
The Washington state law would ban the collection of prescription data from pharmacies that cross-match it against physicians' prescription ID numbers, according to the Post-Intelligencer. The bill would make exceptions for research. Physicians currently have the option of opting out of the data collection.
However, the information gathered could be enough to verify individual patients living in small communities, which could be a HIPAA violation, Rupin Thakkar, MD, told the Tacoma, WA News Tribune in a February 25 article.
The bill passed the Senate by a narrow margin and was also passed by the House Health Care and Wellness Committee. According to the Post-Intelligencer, the bill may not have enough votes to bring it to the House floor for debate.
To view the article in the Post-Intelligencer, click here.
To view the article in the News Tribune, click here.
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