| Page 3 of 3 < |
Prescription Data Used To Assess Consumers
TOOLBOX   Resize
 Save/Share +
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
|
"A lot of insurance companies are starting to use this type of data," said Determan, who co-founded IntelRx, a company that mined prescription databases and was sold to Milliman in 2005. "They said, 'All right. Prescription data is working, let's go and look at other types of data, too.' It's because of the success of one, that we're going after others."
In February, the Federal Trade Commission issued an order saying that MedPoint and IntelliScript are consumer reports under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, so the companies must notify insurers that consumers denied insurance on the basis of these reports have the right to request a copy of the report and that errors be corrected. The FTC's order followed a settlement of allegations that the companies violated the credit-reporting law by failing to provide such notice to insurers.
Bob Gellman, an independent privacy consultant in Washington, said the FTC's decision not to fine the companies sends "the message that it is okay to ignore the law." That, he said, "is absolutely outrageous."
As more health records become electronic, he said, more parties will compete to sell more comprehensive patient data to insurers, driving down data prices. "It will all likely be lawful," Gellman said, "but consumers will likely continue to have no real meaningful choices if they want insurance."
Dick, who conceived the idea of linking the pharmacy databases for underwriting purposes a decade ago, said the pharmacy benefit managers understood the system's privacy implications. He said their attitude seemed one of, " 'Ooh, this is a 60 Minutes' story in the making.' Generally, they wanted to make it a super-secret database, restricted to underwriting."
But now, he said, "there's a huge case for it being opened up for all legitimate access," whether for a patient in an emergency room or for federal government purposes. The key, he said, is full transparency.
He said he has created a privacy tool that requires users to consent before specific data, such as prescription histories, can be released. To work, he said, the tool must be independent of all who hold the data.
"Otherwise," he said, "you have the fox in charge of the henhouse."
Staff researcher Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.
