Senate looks to pass confidentiality bill - Brief Article

A Senate committee was expected to pass a medical records confidentiality bill the third week in June. It contains a provision requiring health plans and employers to obtain a single authorization for purposes of treating the patient, paying providers and for healthcare operations. That parallels exactly the language Daniel Krinsky, director of patient services and pharmacy practice at Ritzman Pharmacies, suggested to a House Commerce subcommittee on May 27. Krinsky was representing the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

The House is moving a little more slowly than the Senate in terms of getting a bill moving. The bill the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee was expected to approve on June 15 includes the NACDS language, meaning pharmacists will not have to get a separate customer authorization for the filling of prescriptions. Moreover, if a pharmacy wants to send a notice to a customer reminding him he needs a refill, that contact can be made without obtaining a prior authorization. However, if the pharmacy wanted to sell the customer's prescription data to a third party for marketing, a separate authorization would have to be obtained.

That authorization language is contained in a bill from Sen. James Jeffords, R-Vt., chairman of the HELP committee. But the NACDS actually prefers a competing bill introduced by Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah. Bennett's bill would establish a national standard for medical records. Jeffords' bill grandfathers in existing state laws, and any that would be passed within two years of his bill's passage.

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