As concerns rise for an impending H1N1 influenza pandemic, law permits data mining of, say, Tamiflu sales as a way of gauging the speed and extend of the disease’s spread.  Trackers can gather information about each prescription including the doctor’s name and address and the patient’s name, address and Social Security number.  Of course, the pharmacies, like Walgreen’s and CVS, which can sell this data, and “mining” companies, like IMS Health and Verispan, assert that patient identify is protected and the data base is highly encrypted.  This NY Times article is not about what law permits, but about what it doesn’t allow-patient identification for prescriptions under usual circumstances where asserted confidentiality and hacker-proof systems are breeched quite often, sometimes in the process of tracking drugs’ adverse effects.    MORE