Electronic Health Records

Vermont Urges Supreme Court to Overturn Second Circuit's Medical Privacy Decision

December 14, 2010

Electronic Privacy Information Center - The State of Vermont has petitioned the Supreme Court to review a Court of Appeals decision striking down the state's prescription confidentiality law. The law regulates data mining companies that sell or use doctors' prescribing records containing personal information on patients.

EPIC had filed a "friend of the court" brief in support of the law. The decision, issued by the Second Circuit, diverged significantly with two previous decisions upholding similar laws in the First Circuit.

Vermont's brief emphasized the importance of consistency across state boundaries, listing twenty six other states considering proposed prescription confidentiality laws. The Vermont Attorney General wrote,

"As the ability to amass volumes of information about prospective customers -- including health care providers -- grows, States and other regulators need guidance as to the scope of their ability to allow individual Americans to control access to and use of their information."

For more information, see EPIC: IMS Health v. Sorrell and EPIC: IMS Health v. Ayotte.

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