Plan to open Californians' medical records dies in Assembly

Apparently the state Assembly felt a lot differently than the state Senate about a bill that would have allowed pharmacies to receive compensation from pharmaceutical companies for information on what drugs people are taking (for more on the bill, read my story of a few weeks ago).

After passing on the floor of the Senate, the bill failed to get a single vote from the Assembly's health committee.

The Senate bill was introduced by Sen. Ron Calderon and was supported by Sen. Jack Scott.

The idea behind the whole thing (at least the stated idea) was to give pharmacies a legal way to contact their customers and remind them to refill their prescriptions. However, the bill would have allowed third-party companies to pass along thinly-veiled advertisements for pharmaceutical products instead of simple reminders (although they only would have been allowed to advertise the product the customer was already taking).

It didn't help that the bill was sponsored by the third-party company who hoped to profit from the the bill. Especially since that company is being sued for doing exactly what the bill would have authorized it to do.