1984 plus 24

[jhetley]

Big Brother is watching.

An aggravating snail-mail letter to Wife yesterday, which I had assumed was just more trash.  CVS/Caremark wanted to inform her that one of her prescriptions is now available in generic form, at considerable savings over the branded version.

We do not get our prescriptions from CVS/Caremark.  Never have.  We prefer to give such large sums of cash to the local independent, within walking distance of our humble home and run by a guy we know.  Wife's father ran an independent pharmacy for many years.

In fact, we no longer have a functioning CVS pharmacy in town...

I know some of you are Practicing Medical Professionals -- isn't there a breach of medical privacy or medical ethics hiding in here somewhere?

Grrrrr.

Comments

[quilzas.livejournal.com]

Remember LaVerdieres (did I even spell that right?)

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Plus, I know what the cellar looks like...

(Stephen King territory.)

[kightp.livejournal.com]

IANA medical professional, but my understanding is that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which purports to protect patient privacy, actually *permits* the sale of patient records to certain medical-related businesses. Hospitals have fought efforts to stop the practice because they can make a lot of money selling their databases.

Individual states may restrict such sales, but it sounds as if Maine may not be one of them...

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Wife plans to have a little chat with her Medical Professional on this -- we came up with three possible sources for name and address tied to a particular prescription. Doctor's office, Anthem Blue Cross, and pharmacist. No hospital or specialist involved on this one.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

*nod* I was using "hospital" as shorthand for "health-care provider."

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I don't _think_ she's planning on taking her guns to the meeting, but I wouldn't want her to tell me if she was...

[edschweppe.livejournal.com]

IANAPMP - but there may be a legitimate reason. Caremark is what's called a Pharmacy Benefits Management company (or PBM); they work with health plan sponsors to "provide the most cost-efficient and comprehensive prescription benefit plans." Presumably, one of the ways a PBM tries to be "cost-efficient" is to look for generic equivalents and get subscribers to switch to them when appropriate.

CVS and Caremark merged last year. If your wife's health plan uses Caremark as its PBM, such a letter would make a great deal of sense, despite the overall CVS-less-ness of northern Maine.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

We do not have prescription drug coverage...

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

We used Healthwise in Greenville, NC because they were the local independent PLUS they are a compounding pharmacy. I have yet to find another like it up here in NH. I'd love to though.