A congressional investigation led by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has revealed some of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains have shared customer prescription records with law enforcement and government officials regardless of whether a warrant was obtained. As policy, CVS, Kroger, and Rite Aid – comprising over 60,000 pharmacies across the country – allow pharmacy staff to fulfill records requests directly. Other pharmacy chains require company lawyers to review requests first.
While prescription records are covered under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act – a medical privacy law – there is a carve out allowing disclosure to law enforcement without patient permission. The pharmacies told Sen. Wyden a government subpoena was sufficient to initiate the release of prescription records, instead of a warrant singed by a judge.
Congressional Democrats are hoping to use the investigation’s findings to enact new federal regulations aimed to undermine state-level abortion restrictions. In a letter to President Biden’s Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Sen. Wyden, along with Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Sara Jacobs (D-CA) asked the federal agency “consider further strengthening its HIPAA regulations… Pharmacies can and should insist on a warrant.”
Democrats hope stronger federal privacy regulations could hamper attempts by Republican state attorneys general to prosecute doctors and pharmacists who provide abortifacient drugs in violation of state law. The attorneys general of both Texas and Missouri have notified national pharmacies their plans to make abortifacient drugs available through the mail open them to prosecution.
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