Bill that would allow drugstores to share customer records killed

Last week's column on California legislation that would allow drugstores to share people's prescription-drug records with mass-mailers clearly struck a chord with readers. And I'm glad to say it resonated with lawmakers as well.

The bill -- SB 1096, written by state Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) -- was approved by the Senate on May 29. But it hit a brick wall Tuesday when it failed to garner a single vote of support in the Assembly Health Committee.

Calderon reserved the right to resubmit his bill in the future. But his chief of staff, Rocky Rushing, subsequently acknowledged that the legislation wouldn't be coming back, at least not in its present form.

"The bill is dead," he said. "It was voted down."

In presenting the legislation Tuesday, Calderon described it as a boon to consumers, especially those with chronic medical conditions. He said it would allow drugstores to send letters to people reminding them to take their medication or refill a prescription.

Calderon said the bill was inspired by his mother, who he said died several years ago from a stroke after failing to take her prescribed meds.

"I take the issue of medical privacy very seriously," he said. "I just want people to take their medications."

If that was his goal, his bill was a consumer-unfriendly way of accomplishing it.

The bill's "source" was a company called Adheris Inc., which used to be known as Elensys Care Services Inc. The company changed its name after it came to light in 1998 that CVS and other pharmacies were sending people's medical info to Elensys without their permission.

Adheris is owned by InVentiv Health Inc., a New Jersey company that says it provides "a comprehensive range of clinical, communications and commercialization services to take pharma products from development through launch to commercial success."

One problem with Calderon's bill was its lack of transparency about who would pay for the reminder letters, and which patients would get them. Calderon originally told me that Adheris is paid by drugstores to handle communications on their behalf.

He acknowledged Tuesday that drug companies "at times" reimburse pharmacies for their expenses.

That's putting it mildly. Adheris Chairman Mike Evanisko testified before the state Senate's Health Committee in March that funding for the company's activities frequently comes from drug makers.

"The pharmaceutical companies sponsor these programs and [on] some occasions they pay us and we reimburse the chains for their expenses," he said. "And in some cases, the pharmaceutical companies who sponsor these pay the chains, and the chains pay us for providing the service."

Evanisko also said Adheris might reimburse drugstores for "printing, postage, maintaining the databases, transferring information to us" -- in other words, everything the drugstores are ostensibly paying Adheris to do.

"This bill is about opening the door to the pharmaceuticals," Assemblywoman Mary Salas (D-Chula Vista) said Tuesday. "The pharmaceuticals want to be able to directly communicate with patients."

Jeff Krinsk, a San Diego attorney who is suing Adheris on behalf of consumers whose prescription information was provided by Albertsons Inc., told me that not only are drug companies paying Adheris and drugstores to fund the letters, they're also choosing which patients receive reminders.

"They only do it for the drugs that are most profitable," he said. "The decision is made by the pharmaceutical companies."

The reason, Krinsk said, is that pharmaceutical companies want to maintain brand awareness among patients taking expensive drugs and deter them from seeking lower-priced generic alternatives.

"The case can be made that there's an educational component to reminder letters that serves the public interest," he said. "But that isn't what's happening here."