CVS Pharmacy Sold Patient Information to Drug Companies, Suit Charges

A class action suit charges that CVS Pharmacy sold its customers' confidential prescription information to large pharmaceutical companies, which then began bombarding the consumersand their doctorswith sales and promotional information.

The named plaintiffs include Arthur Steinberg of Bucks County, Pa., who said he purchased prescriptions from his local CVS, only to learn that CVS had begun communicating with Steinberg's personal physician.

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Health and Welfare Fund also joined the suit, noting that it purchases prescription drugs for its members and retirees and their families and did so with an expectation of privacy.

Instead, the suit charges, CVS raked in millions of dollars in profits by selling the confidential informationto Eli Lilly and Co., Merck, AstraZeneca, Bayer, and other drug manufacturers.

The complaint quotes a statement CVS Caremark CEO Thomas Ryan made to investors. "We have more information on the consumer and their behavior than anybody else, and we share it with our over-the-counter suppliers," Ryan said, according to the complaint.

"Not content with the receipt of the substantial funds generated from the performance of pharmacy services, defendants instead chose to generate additional sources of revenue from the confidential prescription information entrusted by consumers to defendants," the complaintstated.

"Specifically, in exchange for the receipt of funds, direct promotional letters were sent to physicians of consumers by defendant CVS Caremark in order to promote and tout specific prescription drugs of pharmaceutical manufacturers who contracted with defendant CVS Caremark" for use of prescription information, according to the complaint. 

"While touted as an 'RXReview Program' by CVS Caremark, in reality, the physician communications were nothing more than a profit-making opportunity," the class claims.

CVS' scheme contradicts its "public pronouncements as to the sanctity of both consumers' privacy and the physician-patient relationship," according to the complaint. CVS also never mentioned that it sold customers' confidential information on the "Notice of Privacy Practices" that is included with prescriptions, according to the complaint.

It's not the first time CVS has been accused of playing fast and loose with its customers' privacy.

In 2009, CVS settled related claims from the Department of Health and Human Services and Federal Trade Commission. Under the agreement with the health department, CVS paid $2.25 million to settle claims related to media reports that its pharmacies were throwing pill bottles with customers' personal information into open dumpsters.