Do you find it kind of creepy that government agents have access to your prescription information?  Every med you take, they could be watching you.

Doctors understandably don’t want to prescribe medications to a patient who already has the prescription from another doctor.  Such “doctor shopping” is a way for patients to use medications in an unhealthy way. Doctors also want to know what other medications the patient is using, so as to prevent dangerous drug interactions.

But this is no justification for a government-run database, known in Colorado as the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. It’s funded by federal grants and doctors’ licensing fees, reports the Denver Post.  It’s not hard to imagine this as a private organization offering a service.  This is no business of government.

The state has a disturbing track record of keeping medical information private, as I described in an earlier post: Colorado’s health “information exchanges” threaten your medical privacy.

So I was happy to hear that this program may be cut.  The Denver Post reports: Lawmakers may cancel state database used to fight prescription-drug abuse.   Maybe some entrepreneurial-minded people will offer to help privatize it.

Via Complete Colorado.