Do pharmacists have access to patient's past prescription info?

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QS - 25 May 2004 03:30 GMT

Does anyone know if pharmacists have access to patient's past
prescription information?

For instance, if I filled a prescription a few years ago at Walgreens
or other pharmacy, can a pharmacist working there now pull up my
prescription history using my first and last name?

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rxempress - 25 May 2004 20:52 GMT

We are legally required to keep records for 5 or more years. The problem is
the access. Depending on where you go it could be a computer click away or
wading through massive piles of pieces of paper.

Walgreens can usually access your information but it is a bit time
consuming. Give the pharmacists plenty of time (at least a couple of days)
since they have to fit this activity into a already full work schedule.

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QS - 27 May 2004 06:20 GMT

Thanks for your response. Do you know what the laws are in terms of
patient privacy? Can a pharmacist just pull up patient records even
without a request from the patient? Say a pharmacist pulls up his
friend's record just to see what kinds of meds he's purchased...do
pharmacists have the ability to do this and does this happen in
reality?

Also, I am curious what the full work schedule is like for a
pharmacist. What's a typical day like?

Thank you.

> We are legally required to keep records for 5 or more years. The problem is
> the access. Depending on where you go it could be a computer click away or
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> consuming. Give the pharmacists plenty of time (at least a couple of days)
> since they have to fit this activity into a already full work schedule.

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CaptainKrunch - 28 May 2004 01:38 GMT

Yes a pharmacist or technician can pull up whatever records are in the
computer in a matter of seconds. Depends of course what computer system
they are using. Since I am at a new pharmacy our records only go back to
2001 since we bought out another pharmacy and took over.

There is no record of who pulls up what and there are no consequences of
looking at anybody's profile. Once again that is just our computer system.
I am at a supermarket chain pharmacy.

CaptainKrunch

> Thanks for your response. Do you know what the laws are in terms of
> patient privacy? Can a pharmacist just pull up patient records even
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> > consuming. Give the pharmacists plenty of time (at least a couple of days)
> > since they have to fit this activity into a already full work schedule.

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