35 US states have govt-run Rx database

The majority of the USA's 50 states have a government-run central database of all prescriptions issued by physicians and pharmacies, and Florida should follow suit, campaigners argue. The Palm Beach Post reports on a debate which has so far resulted in two failed attempts to create the country's 36th statewide database.

The reasoning behind such a centralization of individual prescribing records is to crack down on prescription drug abuse, which has been the target of major federal and local campaigns (Marketletters passim). However, opponents of such a measure argue that, in addition to privacy concerns about other uses to which the data might be put, such as health insurers trying to gain access in order to verify individual applications for coverage, the security of a centralized database is a problem. Law enforcement agencies would be authorized to look for suspicious prescribing trends in the USA's fourth most populated state.

Joe Negron, a Republican former Florida state Representative, told the Palm Beach Post that, "with all the identity theft that we have and all the accidental release of records that we see on a regular basis, my concern about patient privacy is even more pronounced now than it was two years ago."