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This is an odd proposal.

Most importantly: we need to start treating drug addiction, and long term pain, as the public health emergencies they are and we need to stop criminalising drug addicts.

> Diversion investigations involve, but are not limited to, practitioners and mid-level practitioners who write prescriptions for no legitimate medical need and/or outside the scope of legitimate medical practice, or sell prescriptions to drug dealers or abusers; pharmacists who falsify records and subsequently sell or abuse the drugs; pharmacists who fill prescriptions that they knew or should have known were illegitimate; employees who steal from inventory and falsify records to cover illicit sales; prescription forgers; and individuals who commit armed robbery of pharmacies and drug distributors

The US does massively over-prescribe opioids. There have been doctors who were careless in who they prescribed to. There have been "pill mills" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/02/opioids-west...

But they don't need patient ID to track that down. They can use supplier data.

I'm also struggling to read the document. It's written in a specific, jargon heavy, way. Use of the word "subpoena" every time they mention patient data is a little bit reassuring, but it's still not great.

> CLIN 2001 Unlimited access to patient de-identified data, to be identified via subpoena, for class 2 to 5 prescription data which includes pharmacy, medical, and dental data. Fixed price per license per month

I'm still ploughing through the 60 pages to try to get my head around it.

View on HN

• The number of prescriptions filled, • The number of new prescriptions filled, • The number of refills filled, by date filled, • The name of the controlled substance • The days’ supply for the patient (e.g. 5 days, 15 days, et.), • The prescribers name and DEA registration number, and specialty • An encrypted patient identifier to whom the prescription was written • Date prescription was dispensed • Payment Type: cash, government payer, commercial payer • Dosing information: quantity and days’ sup

• Number of instances of more than one Schedule II prescription for the same drug, and written within three days of each other by different prescribers • Number of instances of more than one Schedule II prescriptions for the same drug and written within three days of each other by the same prescriber • Number of instances of more than two patients, with the same address, receive the same drug in the same quantity from the same doctor on the same day. • Number of early refills Opiate and Benzo combine • Number of early Schedule II • Distance between patient and pharmacy • Average distance between patient and pharmacy for a combination of Opiate, Benzo and a muscle relaxer. • Distance between patient and pharmacy for Schedule II • Distance between patient and prescriber • Distance between patient and prescriber for Schedule II • Number of Opiate and Buprenorphine combinations • Number of Paid “cash” Schedule II • Number of Oxycodone 30 MG and 15 MG within five days overlap • Number of times Opioid Cough Syrup exceeds 90 day supply • Number of Oxycodone 30 MG and Hydromorphone 8 MG within five days overlap • Average MME Per Day • Average Total MME per pharmacy visit • Number of Opiate and Benzo combine within 3 days • Number of Opiate and Benzo prescriptions for the same person on the same filled day at different pharmacies. • Number of Opiate and Benzo prescriptions filled for the same person on the same day from different prescribers • Number of Opiate and Benzo prescriptions written on the same day to the same person by different prescribers • Number of Opiate and Benzo filled on the same person on the same day • Number of Opiate and Benzo filled for the same person on the same day at the same pharmacy