Privacy changes protect doctor shoppers

GPs are no longer able to identify patients shopping for narcotics and tranquillisers, following recent changes to the Privacy Act 1988.

In a letter to the Editor in the most recent edition of the Medical Journal of Australia, Professor Max Kamien, Professor of General Practice at the University of Western Australia, raised his concerns following changes to the legislation.

He said all GPs encounter patients 'shopping' for narcotics and tranquillisers. The Doctor Shopper phone line gave GPs fast access to information from the Health Insurance Commission to identify non-genuine patients.

However the Doctor Shopper phone line has been cancelled, following private sector amendments to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth).

"Concerned GPs are now limited to requesting that a 'patient' sign a voluntary release of their Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme record. This tells the 'patient' that they have been rumbled, and they move on to the next practice on their list," Dr Kamien said.

The signed form authorises the Health Insurance Commission to release a printout of the drugs received by the patient during the past 6 months.

But, under changes to the legislation, the doctor is not allowed to make a record of the information or divulge the details to anyone else. To do so attracts a penalty of $5,000 and/or a prison term of up to two years.

"Even putting this information in the medical records of a multi-doctor practice would appear to be illegal," Dr Kamien said.

"The 'right-doers' can end up in jail, while the 'wrong-doers' can, with impunity, continue to play their dissembling, time-consuming and sometimes harassing games."

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

CONTACT: Prof Max Kamien 0419 930 660 mkamien@cyllene.uwa.edu.au

                 Judith Tokley AMA 0408 824 306