Can a patient have a family member, friend, or other person pick up a filled prescription, medical supplies, x-rays, or other similar forms of patient information, for the patient?

Yes.  HIPAA allows health care providers to use professional judgment and experience to decide if it is in the patient’s best interest to allow another person to pick up a prescription, medical supplies, X-rays, or other similar forms of information for the patient.

For example, the fact that a relative or friend arrives at a pharmacy and asks to pick up a specific prescription for a patient effectively verifies that he or she is involved in the patient’s care.  HIPAA allows the pharmacist to give the filled prescription to the relative or friend.  The patient does not need to provide the pharmacist with their names in advance.

Created 9/16/08