Florida Senate - 2009                                    SB 1402
       
       
       
       By Senator Aronberg
       
       
       
       
       27-01152-09                                           20091402__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to drug prescriptions; providing
    3         definitions; prohibiting the licensure, transfer, use,
    4         or sale of records of information relating to drug
    5         prescriptions containing certain identifiable data
    6         regarding patients and prescribers; providing that the
    7         act does not prohibit certain activities involving
    8         prescription information or the collection, use,
    9         transfer, or sale of information that does not
   10         identify a patient or prescriber; providing that a
   11         violation of the act is a deceptive and unfair trade
   12         practice; providing a penalty; providing an effective
   13         date.
   14         
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16         
   17         Section 1. Commercial use of certain information contained
   18  in drug prescriptions prohibited.—
   19         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   20         (a) “Commercial purpose” means, but is not limited to,
   21  advertising, marketing, promotion, or any activity that could be
   22  used to:
   23         1. Influence sales or market share of a pharmaceutical
   24  product;
   25         2. Influence or evaluate the prescribing behavior of an
   26  individual health care professional; or
   27         3. Evaluate the effectiveness of a professional
   28  pharmaceutical sales force.
   29         (b) “Prescriber” means any person or entity licensed to
   30  prescribe medicinal drugs.
   31         (2) Records of information about drug prescriptions
   32  containing patient-identifiable and prescriber-identifiable data
   33  may not be licensed, transferred, used, or sold by a pharmacy
   34  benefits manager, an insurance company, or an electronic
   35  transmission intermediary; a retail, mail order, or Internet
   36  pharmacy; or other similar entity for any commercial purpose.
   37  However, such records may be used for the limited purposes of
   38  pharmacy reimbursement; formulary compliance; health care
   39  management; utilization review by a health care provider,
   40  insurance provider, or agent of the health care provider or
   41  insurance provider; health care research; or as otherwise
   42  provided by law.
   43         (3) This section does not prohibit the dispensing of
   44  prescription drugs to a patient or to the patient’s authorized
   45  representative, the transmission of prescription information
   46  between an authorized prescriber and a licensed pharmacy, the
   47  transfer of prescription information between licensed
   48  pharmacies, the transfer of prescription records that may occur
   49  if ownership of a pharmacy is changed or transferred,
   50  educational communications provided to a patient about the
   51  patient’s health condition or adherence to a prescribed course
   52  of therapy, or the provision of other information about a drug
   53  being dispensed, treatment options, or clinical trials. This
   54  section does not prohibit the collection, use, transfer, or sale
   55  of medical information about an individual for commercial
   56  purposes, identified by zip code, geographic region, or medical
   57  specialty, if that information does not identify the patient or
   58  prescriber.
   59         (4) A violation of this section is a deceptive and unfair
   60  trade practice under part II of chapter 501, Florida Statutes,
   61  and is punishable as provided in s. 501.2075, Florida Statutes.
   62         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.