Scenario: Mary Smith comes into your pharmacy to request a copy of prescription receipts for her entire family – husband John, daughter Susan (19 years old), daughter Cathy (16 years old), son Robert (7 years old) and her mother Rose (87 years old and living with the family).
Which receipts can you give Mary?
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Quiz – Which receipts can you issue?
Prescription receipts for income tax purposes contain individually identifying diagnostic, treatment and care information (DIN) and registration information. This information may be disclosed on the tax receipt if each family member has consented, in writing, to the disclosure or the authorized representative of a family member has authorized Mary to act of their behalf to access the information.
You may disclose Robert’s individually identifying health information to Mary Smith because as the parent or guardian of Robert, she is his authorized representative. You would have to obtain John’s consent to disclose his tax receipts to Mary or John’s written authorization for Mary to act on his behalf in accessing John’s health information.
In Cathy’s case, you would use your discretion before releasing this information to her mother since Cathy at age 16 probably understands the nature of consenting to the disclosure of her health information and the consequences of exercising that right or power. An example of such a situation would be if Cathy was taking oral contraceptives and her mother was not aware of this. Providing the information to Mary Smith would be a judgment call and you should document your rationale for the decision made.
Mary states that she has a power of attorney for Rose (her mother). You could disclose prescription receipts to Mary if she presented evidence of the power of attorney.
If all of the disclosures are to the individual or their authorized representative, a disclosure notation and notice to recipient is not required. If a disclosure is done with the individual’s consent, a notice to recipient would be required.
