Requesting my treatment plan a HIPAA violation?

by Christine
(CA, USA)

There is a pharmacist at the Walgreens that I go to, who is being very unprofessional. She yells at me. Tells me that my medical problems aren't good enough for my pain medicine. She demands that get off of my pain medicine. The last time I went in there, she wrote on a post-it note of the information that she wanted from my doctor. She wrote, "Treatment plan and surgery history". I was told that she's not supposed to know that information and that it's against HIPAA regulations. Is it against HIPAA regulations and how do I report her?

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Aug 15, 2021
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starstarstarstarstar 		No, it's not!
by: Sallie

By asking the pharmacy to fill your prescription, you have made them part of your treatment team. Providers are allowed to access and disclose PHI (minimum necessary to do their jobs) for the purposes of treatment, payment and operations.

While what you described sounds unkind and unprofessional, it is not illegal.
Oct 02, 2020
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starstarstarstarstar 		Pharmacy Technician at Walgreens
by: Pharmacy Technician

Actually, it is a HIPAA violation. Walgreens pharmacists/pharmacy technicians are not allowed to ask you to ask you prescriber to release any of your health information to him/her. And the pharmacist/pharmacy technician is not allowed to even ask a prescriber/physician what type of medications you are currently taken in the present/past that she does not know about. Only you have the right to give the pharmacist/pharmacy technician that information. And that is only if your are worried that 2 medications are going to clash with one another.
Sep 16, 2020
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starstarstarstarstar 		No, Its Not Against HIPAA if...
by: David

No, this is not a HIPPA violation if you consent to provide her your treatment plan and surgery history. There needs to be a legitimate underlying medical condition for which you are prescribed pain medication. Narcotic medications require stringent medication control. I would refer you back to your pharmacist for more information about this situation because your issue is with your pharmacist and not with me. Only she can clarify this issue for you, not me because I do not know your medical history nor the history of your interactions with this pharmacist whom you seem to have a problem with. Who is telling you this is against HIPPA? The Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act provides protection against unlawful and unnecessary disclosure of health and medical record information. This is one of the reasons why when you ask for your own medical records at your doctors office, you have to sign a release to yourself so you can access the records. If you want your doctors to talk to each other, and dicuss your medical records and history, you have to sign a release of information so that those doctors can talk to each other about your medical conditions.

In this case, in your case, this cannot be a HIPAA violation because NO medical history has been disclosed which was unlawful or unnecessary. Your privacy was not infringed. The pharmacist does not have more of your medical record or history that she should have at this time. If you don't like your pharmacist, you are free to go to any other pharmacy that you want to in order to get your medication filled. I do think, however, that more and more pharmacies are becoming increasingly stringent in their handling of C-II opioid pain medications.

Best of luck to you!

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