S Carolina Rx info privacy act moves on

*Members of a South Carolina, USA, House of Representatives Committeehave unanimously approved the proposed Prescription Information Privacy Act, which will now be considered by the full House. The bill would prohibit pharmacies from releasing customers' prescription information without their written consent. The bill's sponsor, Representative Joel Lourie, said that its purpose is to ensure that prescription information between a doctor, patient and pharmacist is confidential and is not for sale.

The issue arose after some national pharmacies used outside firms to send prescription reminders to their customers, and some of the outside vendors later sold or gave the prescription information to drugmakers for marketing purposes, reports Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. The South Carolina Medical Association has received complaints about the practice, and notes that it is allowed under a loophole in the law.

Giant Food and CVS have already said they will stop sharing their pharmacy customers' medical data with marketing companies, and Eckerd Pharmacy said this information is under the control and supervision of its pharmacists only, but Rep Lourie and the bill's 62 co-sponsors do not want to leave it up to voluntary measures. Federal lawmakers are also considering a national law banning pharmacies from releasing their patients' prescription records without written permission.