The owner of Bunnings and Kmart is now in the prescriptions business, raising fears over patient data

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Doctors and pharmacists concerned that Wesfarmers’ acquisition of InstantScripts could end the notion that ‘health data is sacrosanct’

require doctors to undergo a direct consultation, whether in-person or via video or telephone. If they don’t, they must explain “how the prescribing and the management of the patient was appropriate and necessary in the circumstances”.

He said the company would have siloing provisions to theoretically protect identifiable patient information, but even anonymised data could be very useful for online advertising, which is already largely based on stereotyped “personality sets”. InstantScripts’ general manager, Richard Skimin, said patient data was stored securely and accessible only by the company’s doctors.

“InstantScripts’ secure systems are housed and managed independently, which eliminates any risk of a patient’s health data being inadvertently shared with other Wesfarmers businesses.”

 

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