Prescription drug history may be factor in insurance coverage
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, August 11, 2008
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Health “credit reports” are the newest tool available to help insurers analyze applicants and decide whether to provide coverage, The Washington Post reported August 4.
These reports provide information from databases that contain prescription drug histories, according to the article. They speed up the process and enable insurers to make coverage decisions far more quickly and save money in the process.
Some privacy advocates fear the practice is dangerously unregulated, the newspaper reported. They say the practice demonstrates the ability to use patient information for alternative purposes without patient knowledge.
"As health care moves into the digital age, there are more and more companies holding vast amounts of patients' health information," Joy Pritts, research professor at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute, told the newspaper. "Most people don't even know these organizations exist. Unfortunately the federal health privacy rule does not cover many of them . . . The lack of transparency with how all of this works is disturbing."
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