Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15058
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: news
Durbin K.
Washington Legislature: Bill to keep prescription data from drug firms
columbian.com 2009 Jan 31
http://www.columbian.com/article/20090201/NEWS02/702019962
Full text:
If you think your prescription drug history is a confidential medical record, think again.
Thanks to a loophole in federal privacy laws, it’s legal for pharmacists to share that history with drug company marketers, who can use the information to promote specific drugs directly to consumers.
States can plug that loophole by passing stricter confidentiality laws covering drug records. Only California has done so.
Under House Bill 1493, scheduled for a public hearing in Olympia Tuesday, Washington would join that short list.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, and co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, will be heard by the House Committee on Health Care and Wellness at 1:30 p.m. It has to pass that committee by Feb. 8 to stay alive in this legislative session.
Among the organizations supporting the change are AARP and the Washington Hospital Association. A similar bill introduced last session drew opposition from a national pharmaceutical company’s lobbyist.
In 2003, when Congress passed new medical information privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), it allowed a big exception to the law. Under the loophole, pharmaceutical companies can hire third-party marketers to obtain individual prescription lists from pharmacies, then contact people on the list by phone or direct mail to promote specific drugs.
“They can send refill reminders to people who get specific drugs,” said Leigh Sims of the Washington Coalition for Prescribing Integrity, which is lobbying for the bill’s passage. “They can recommend a different drug. It certainly causes safety issues for patients, who can get worried that they are not getting the right information.”
“We really believe that this is a huge violation of the patient-doctor relationship,” said Dr. Jeff Hubener, a Renton family practice physician who chairs the coalition.
“Patients’ prescriptions should be private,” Hubener said. “There is a safety concern because these intermediaries have no idea what the right prescription is for the patient.”
HB 1493 would prohibit health care providers, insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers and their associates from using health care information for the purpose of marketing drugs. It declares that violations of the law constitute “an unfair or deceptive act in trade or commerce.”
Under the bill, people approached by drug marketers could file civil claims for damages and legal fees. Courts would have the authority to award triple damages.
Nationally, the pharmaceutical industry spends as much as $54 billion annually to market drugs in the United States.
Last year, the Coalition for Prescribing Integrity lobbied the Legislature for a bill that would have made it illegal to sell information identifying the prescribing practices of individual physicians in order to market or promote prescription drugs.
The bill passed the Senate 26-22 but failed in the House. Opponents, who included the Association of Washington Business and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, contended the bill violated the U.S. Constitution and said it would prevent medical specialists from getting the most current information from drug manufacturers.
