Is this against the law?

[Red Skittles]

So my father was telling me that one of his co-workers went to the doctors office because she was sick, the doctor had prescribed her 3 different medicines, when she left the hospital she went to go get them, she only had bought 2 of them and was going to get the third one another time. the next day she had another appointment, and the doctor asked her why she didn't get her 3rd prescription. My fathers co-worker looked at the doctor and asked how he knew she didn't get it, he told her that credit card / debit card/ and check's are all followed (as we all know) but when the banking company finds out the customer purchase they contact the company who sold it to them, contact the company who prescribed this medicine to her and asked her why she didn't get 3. From my understanding this sounds illegal, due to the Privacy invasion laws. I have researched into this and found some interesting sites.


Sites:
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp?ml_action=get-article&articleID=R0705A

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_6_31/ai_54938995/pg_1

[KIRBSTAR H2O]

idk how it works over there but that does sound very illegal

[Hard Candy]

Seems fishy :mvconfused:

[Pebbles]

That just sounds very odd. I mean I would understand if the pharmacy or wherever she got the prescription from calls the dr to verify but a credit card company go thru all that hassle? IDK

[H2O Waitingkill]

welcome to the age of information, were the greatest feat will be in the manipulation of information;P

[TW xTJx]

I don't think I could ever go back to that doctor. Then again in this day and age peoples personal information is just $14.95 away. (Thats not a joke.)

[Opforsoldier]

Something sounds a bit off to me here because HIPAA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIPAA)would be in force and the disclosure of anything to do with medical records would not be allowed without the express written consent of the patient to anyone other then the person themselves and the doctor treating them.

Now as far as prescriptions and tracking them... I am on long term pain management and I know my doctor can tell me when and where I had my scrips filled as they are tracked rather carefully by one of the alphabet agencies for a myriad of reasons. I have never had my information released or abused that I am aware of but I am sure that it happens to some people.

If I were the co-worker I would be digging a bit deeper and if someone released unauthorized information I would be speaking with the proper agency about this. The only way we can ensure that this type of crap does not happen is by reporting it when it does. As for not going back to the doctor, I would say that the pharmacy is more likely the cause of the problem. If the purchase was tracked (for marketing or any reason) by the use of a credit or debit card then the pharmacy is where it happened as they are the ones that would have run the card as payment. Besides, a doctors office is well versed on HIPAA and I know the 2 that I have been seeing would not even release information to my wife even though the docs see her every month when she goes to my appointment with me. Not until I signed the HIPAA waiver would they do so and I am willing to bet 99.99% of the docs in this country are the same way.

EDI Retail Pharmacy Claim Transaction (NCPDP Telecommunications Standard version 5.1) is used to submit retail pharmacy claims to payers by health care professionals who dispense medications, either directly or via intermediary billers and claims clearinghouses. It can also be used to transmit claims for retail pharmacy services and billing payment information between payers with different payment responsibilities where coordination of benefits is required or between payers and regulatory agencies to monitor the rendering, billing, and/or payment of retail pharmacy services within the pharmacy health care/insurance industry segment.

I sure hope this works out for her as I know I would loathe having someone know my personal medical information. Just too many things that can happen with info like that these days.

[PMS Aloma]

I don't know if I fully understand what happened... but I took law classes and will soon become a Private Investigator so maybe my law skills could be of use... Keep in mind however, that my law education is Canadian...

That being said, from what I understand, no laws were broken. Prescriptions are tracked, and it makes perfect sense for the doctor to be notified if not all prescriptions are being used. It is a safety measure to ensure people are not pretending to be sick, then only getting the prescriptions they can sell... perhaps the doctor was contacted because he/she only filled 2 of 3 prescriptions. From a legal standpoint, it doesn't make sense! If you are ill you should take all medications as prescribed, and if it is noticed not all medications are being filled, a doctor should be contacted to ensure the patient is taking the meds and is actually ill!
In Canada, this is not illegal... but US may be different! So I'm not sure...

[JokeDeity]

Don't worry guys, information has always been safe, and no one [CONTENT REMOVED DUE TO CIA RESTRICTIONS].