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September 12, 2018

HIPAA
Nevada Pharmacy Board disciplines physician for misuse of prescription drug monitoring database
On September 6, the New York Times reported that Dr. Ivan Goldsmith, a weight loss physician practicing in Las Vegas, was disciplined on September 5 by the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy for improper access to Nevada’s prescription drug monitoring database. The physician allegedly searched the database for records of controlled substance use by Stephen Paddock, the deceased gunman in last October’s mass shooting in Las Vegas. The authority to discipline users of the database rests with the pharmacy board.

Goldsmith, who is relocating to Florida, declined to testify at a hearing in Reno on September 5. He was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, $16,000 in attorney fees and costs, and serve a year of probation, based on the board’s holding that his access to the database, and his later release of information on the shooter’s use of diazepam to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, violated its rules and HIPAA, since Goldsmith was never Paddock’s physician. The report noted that 2 other medical practitioners received letters of reprimand for attempting to access Paddock’s records following the story in the Review-Journal, at a time when the records had been locked. [AP, Las Vegas. Doctor disciplined for looking up Vegas shooter drug records. New York Times 2018 Sep 6; https://nyti.ms/2p0N0NF]