Alleged HIPAA violations by CVS Caremark, again

Nov 23 2009

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), Consumer Action, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), Patient Privacy Rights, Private Citizen, and Privacy Journal are asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate potentially illegal activity by CVS Caremark.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) allows CVS Caremark access to information on patients covered by its pharmacy benefit manager for administering claims and other limited purposes. Company letters collected by NCPA document CVS Caremark tapping into personal medical histories for marketing purposes, such as to urge patients to switch an existing prescription from their independent community pharmacy to a CVS retail or Caremark mail order pharmacy. A redacted example letter can be found here.

“The initial concerns about merging a giant drug store chain like CVS with a giant pharmacy benefit manager and mail order pharmacy like Caremark have been prescient,” said NCPA Executive Vice President and CEO Bruce T. Roberts, RPh. “Evidence suggests patient records are being accessed to steer patients away from their pharmacy of choice to a CVS or Caremark mail order. The FTC’s ongoing investigation of the company indicates where there is smoke there might be fire.”

Roberts added, “CVS Caremark’s conduct also appears to violate HIPAA patient protections and warrants a formal investigation. Patient records are not commodities to be exploited. CVS Caremark consistently seems to put profits before patients. This latest practice indicates a willingness to seek financial gains at the expense of patients’ privacy rights.”

The groups’ letter and the full NCPA statement are available here.

CVS Caremark previously paid a $2.25 million fine in February for HIPAA violations centering on the improper disposing of patient records. Another investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for anti-competitive violations was acknowledged recently by CVS Caremark on November 5.

Source The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA®)