NEW LAW SEEN AS ADDING MORE RESTRICTIONS TO ENSURE PRESCRIPTION DATA PRIVACY.

The New York Times (8/9, BU1, Freudenheim) reported on the front of its Sunday Business section about how people believe their prescription drug information is "private. But in fact, prescriptions, and all the information on them -- including not only the name and dosage of the drug and the name and address of the doctor, but also the patient's address and Social Security number -- are a commodity bought and sold in a murky marketplace." However, this "may change if some little-noted protections from the Obama administration are strictly enforced.

The federal stimulus law enacted in February prohibits in most cases the sale of personal health information, with a few exceptions for research and public health measures like tracking flu epidemics." Still, the "law won't shut down the medical data mining industry, but there will be more restrictions on using private information without patients' consent and penalties for civil violations will be increased." Dr. David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health IT, said, "We can't afford to go forward with our plans unless we have assured the American public that the privacy of their information is assured."


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*Tune in later for Patients Spend $34 Billion on Alternative Medicines.

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