[Med-privacy] Prescription Privacy

[peter marshall]

Court Upholds New Hampshire Prescription Privacy Law

Today, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a New Hampshire law 
that bans the sale of prescriber-identifiable prescription drug data 
for marketing purposes. In August, EPIC and 16 experts in privacy and 
technology filed a "friend of the court" brief urging the federal 
appellate court to reverse a lower court ruling that delayed 
enforcement of the New Hampshire Prescription Confidentiality Act. The 
experts said the lower court should be reversed because there is a 
substantial privacy interest in patient data that the lower court 
failed to consider. The New Hampshire Attorney General also defended 
the law, calling pharmaceutical representatives "invisible intruder[s] 
in the physician's examination room." Data mining companies challenged 
the law, claiming that the privacy measure violated their free speech 
rights. For more information, see EPIC's IMS Health v. Ayotte page. 
(Nov. 18)

[EPIC]