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I went yesterday evening to a big box pharmacy (Rite Aid) as I had a pressing need to fill a scrip. Normally I go to a local independent pharmacy that’s been here for decades. The pharmacist is knowledgeable and helpful, and I support local business over corporate business. But they close at 6 pm.
ANYWAY, when they filled the scrip at Rite Aid, they wanted me to do some electronic signature thing. I thought they were mixed up as I was paying cash, and they didn’t need an electronic signature for cash. But it seems it had something to do with HIPPA. I hadn’t heard of this before, and questioned them. “Where does this information go?” No answer forthcoming. (I was dealing with a middle-aged woman pharmacist and a teen counter clerk). There was something in the little blurb on the electronic signature box that indicated it was mainly for third party payment (insurance). I said that it didn’t seem to apply to me, as I don’t have insurance, and am paying with cash. The pharmacist said it was just so there was a record of the scrip being picked up. (Because a receipt isn’t enough?) I asked why my regular pharmacist never asked me to sign something like this. How does Rite Aid horn in on HIPPA stuff, which, as I understand it, is about sharing a patient’s medical info among **medical practitioners**. Rite Aid is not a medical practitioner. I got no answer as to why my regular pharmacist does not require this, and I got no real answer as to why Rite Aid *does* require it. I said I’d get it filled the next day (today) at my regular pharmacist, as they were unable or unwilling to answer my questions. Got my paper scrip back and went to my regular pharmacy this morning to get the scrip filled.
Has anyone else come across this? It seems to me to be inappropriate info mining on the part of a corporate pharmacist.
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