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Walgreen accused of selling patient data
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Walgreen shows rival chain CVS benefits of focus
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By Terry Baynes
NEW YORK, March 11 | Fri Mar 11, 2011 5:19pm EST
NEW YORK, March 11 (Reuters Legal) - A lawsuit filed in California this week
accuses national drug-store chain Walgreen Co of unlawfully selling medical
information gleaned from patient prescriptions, another front in the battle over
personal information.
Unlike suits that focus on patient privacy, the plaintiffs accuse Walgreen of
depriving them of the commercial value of their own prescription information.
According to the suit, brought by Todd Murphy on behalf of his two daughters and
the rest of the class, Walgreen sells the prescription information to data
mining companies who resell it to pharmaceutical companies for marketing
purposes. The practice allows drugmakers to target physicians considered
high-volume prescribers and those most willing to prescribe new medications, it
said.
Walgreen spokesman Robert Elfinger said the company had just learned of the
lawsuit and declined to comment.
As a measure of the information's value, the suit cites Walgreen's 2010 annual
filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which lists "purchased
prescription files" as intangible assets worth $749 million.
"We believe this information belongs to the patient who paid for the drug, not
the pharmacy," said plaintiffs' lawyer Jeffrey Krinsk. The plaintiffs also blame
the practice for driving up medical costs by perpetuating the sales of
high-priced brand drugs instead of cheaper generic alternatives.
Krinsk's law firm, Finkelstein and Krinsk, has previously sued Walgreen in
Florida state court for allegedly giving pharmaceutical companies access to
prescription records. The judge granted Walgreen summary judgment last
September, finding no proof that the company had released patient information.
Krinsk has also sued drug retailer Longs Drugs for violating California's
Confidentiality of Medical Information Act. He said the plaintiffs voluntarily
dismissed that case after the judge ruled that the pharmacy's practice of
selling prescription information did not violate medical privacy and
confidentiality laws.
The focus of the latest suit, filed on Tuesday, shifts from privacy to unlawful
business practices. Without identifying individuals, Walgreen sells data that
includes the patient's sex, age group, state, the ID number of the prescribing
doctor and the name of the drug.
Similar class actions have surfaced elsewhere in the country. On Monday, the
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Health and Welfare Fund filed a class action
in Pennsylvania court against CVS Pharmacy for allegedly selling customer's
private information to Eli Lilly and Co, Merck, AstraZeneca and Bayer.
(Reporting by Terry Baynes of Reuters Legal; Editing by Amy Singer and Eddie
Evans)
(This article first appeared on Westlaw News & Insight, www.westlawnews.com)
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