Big Pharma Is Giving Americans' Medical Information To Law Enforcement Without A Warrant, Lawmakers Say

Big Pharma is releasing Americans' private medical information to law enforcement agencies without a warrant, lawmakers said in a letter Tuesday to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Law enforcement agencies discreetly obtain the prescription records of thousands of Americans a year without a warrant and often without legal review, seconds Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, Washington Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and California Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs. Lawmakers are pushing HHS to increase its regulations to protect Americans' data and require a warrant to obtain it.

“Through briefings with major pharmacies, we learned that every year law enforcement agencies secretly obtain the prescription records of thousands of Americans without a warrant,” the lawmakers wrote. “In many cases, pharmacies are handing over sensitive medical records without review by a legal professional. Although pharmacies are legally permitted to inform their customers about government demands for their data, most do not. As a result, many Americans' prescription records have few meaningful privacy protections, and those protections vary greatly depending on the pharmacy they use.”

It turns out that major US pharmacies routinely provide patients' medical records to law enforcement without a warrant. The potential ramifications of this for anyone on birth control, medication for mental illness, or other personal conditions are staggering. pic.twitter.com/pnTpl8bfvX

— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) December 12, 2023

Lawmakers surveyed major pharmacies such as CVS Health, Walmart Stores, Inc., Walgreens Boots Alliance and Amazon Pharmacy, and found there is no federal mandate requiring a warrant before distributing records to law enforcement. order, according to the letter.

“Our pharmacy teams are trained to respond appropriately to lawful requests from regulatory agencies and law enforcement,” a CVS spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We have suggested that a judge-issued warrant or subpoena requirement be considered, and we look forward to working collaboratively with Congress to strengthen patient privacy protections… We have committed to publishing transparency reports on the · third-party registration requests, including those from regulatory agencies and law enforcement. The first report will be published in the first quarter of 2024.”

Five of the eight pharmacies asked by lawmakers said they require law enforcement registration requests to be legally evaluated before responding. However, CVS, The Kroger Company and Rite Aid Corporation suggested that their staff should respond immediately.

“These pharmacies will hand over medical records in response to a mere subpoena, which often does not need to be reviewed or signed by a judge before it is issued,” the lawmakers added. “To justify this low level of protection, several pharmacies cited language in HHS regulations that allow health care providers to disclose these records if required to do so by law, pursuant to legal process or in accordance with an administrative request”.

HHS has the ability to make it a necessity to obtain a warrant, the lawmakers wrote in the letter.

“Americans deserve to have their private medical information protected at the pharmacy counter and a complete picture of pharmacies' privacy practices, so they can make informed decisions about where to fill their prescriptions,” they wrote.

HHS, Jayapal, Jacobs, Walgreens, Amazon, Cigna, Optum Rx, Walmart, Kroger and Rite Aid did not immediately respond to DCNF's request for comment.

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