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Two ways to protect a patient's information during criminal investigations

Pharmacy Regulation Resource, March 10, 2004

Take steps to protect patient information during an investigation, says Michael Hoying, RPh, MS, pharmacy director at Fairview Hospital in Cleveland.

"If it's an initial investigation, the patient identifier could be coded so you can't identify the patient," Hoying says. "For them [state board of pharmacy] to know I was in the hospital on certain narcotics is a little much. They need to know how the nurse was using the narcotics, was it documented, was it pulled out of the automated system."

TIP: Black out the patient's name, Hoying says. This will protect the patient's identity and still provide authorities with enough information for the investigation.

Evaluate each situation separately. Susan Bishop, MA, senior manager of regulatory affairs and political action for the American Pharmacists Association suggests that you determine what information authorities want before turning over patient records.

TIP: Check with your hospital's legal counsel to determine what information you can withhold from authorities and what information you must release.

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