HHS – April 2002
PATIENT:  The privacy rule prevents my pharmacist from filling my prescription before I show up and sign that consent.   Now, instead of having the prescription waiting for me, I’ll have to come to the pharmacy, sign a consent, and then wait around for hours while the prescription is filled.
The Privacy Rule does not permit covered entities, including pharmacists, to use identifiable health information for treatment, payment, or health care operations without prior patient consent.
* HHS has proposed new regulatory language to fix this problem.
TRUE !
TRUE!     The Privacy Rule does not permit covered entities, including pharmacists, to use identifiable health information for treatment, payment, or health care operations without prior patient consent.

It poses a problem for first-time users of a particular pharmacy or pharmacy chain, as well as problems relating to access to medical care.  The Department of Health and Human Services did not intend the rule to interfere with a pharmacist’s normal activities in this way.

The Secretary is aware of this problem and, in March, proposed new regulatory language to fix this problem.  The proposal would eliminate the requirement that direct treatment providers obtain consent to use or disclose protected health information for purposes of treatment, payment, or health care operations (while requiring permission before individually identifiable health information can be used or disclosed for other purposes) while strengthening the requirement for the provision of a notice of a covered entity’s privacy practices.