The Washington Post Drew Harwell reports for the Washington Post has reported that a congressional inquiry revealed that the biggest pharmacy chains in the country have given police and government investigators access to American prescription records without obtaining a warrant, raising concerns about potential breaches of patient privacy.
Three of the biggest companies, CVS Health, Kroger, and Rite Aid, with a combined total of 60,000 locations nationally, stated they permit pharmacy employees to turn over customers’ medical records while the customer is in the shop, even though some of the businesses demand that their attorneys examine law enforcement demands.
Tens of thousands of legal demands were made to the eight massive pharmacy chains annually, the majority of which were related to civil cases. It’s unknown how many of them were in response to requests made by law enforcement or how many of them were granted. Unless there was a legal prohibition, Amazon was the only corporation that indicated it informed customers when law enforcement requested its pharmacy records.
For almost one in three women between the ages of 15 and 44 who reside in states where abortion is either completely or largely prohibited, the pharmacy data may be especially troubling. The legislators urged HHS to tighten HIPAA regulations and guarantee that pharmacies insist on a warrant, which would force law enforcement to appear in court to carry out such demands, in a letter addressed to the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Hospitals and doctor’s offices are examples of “covered entities” that are subject to regulations on the use and exchange of health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. However, pharmacies are allowed to choose which legal requirements to meet before providing medical records to law enforcement authorities.
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