Florida Moves To Link Drug Data To Names Of Patients

The New York Times reports:

Florida’s insurance regulator has demanded an unusually intrusive trove of data on millions of prescription drugs filled in the state last year, including the names of patients taking the medications, their dates of birth and doctors they’ve seen.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in January sought this information from pharmacy benefit managers like UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx and CVS Health’s Caremark, companies that oversee prescription drugs for employers and government programs.

“You don’t need such granular patient information for purposes of oversight,” said Sharona Hoffman, a health law and privacy expert at Case Western Reserve University. She added: “You have to worry: Is the government actually trying to get information about reproductive care or transgender care or mental health care?”

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