When you receive medical treatment, you have a legal right to privacy.¹

What this means is that your medical records cannot be shared with anyone else unless you say so. There are some important exceptions to this "rule," but the basic idea is that patients should have the right to control who sees their medical information.

On top of this basic right to privacy, federal regulations require an even greater level of privacy when a patient's medical information includes treatment for drug or alcohol abuse.¹

Your state may also have specific laws concerning patient privacy. States are not allowed to reduce the level of confidentiality provided by federal regulation, but they may increase it if they so choose.²

At Your Doctor's Office
The training your doctor receives as part of becoming qualified to prescribe SUBOXONE emphasizes that your treatment for opioid dependence be held strictly confidential.

The privacy of your treatment for opioid dependence is protected whether you are a current or former patient, no matter what treatment setting (eg, office-based, hospital, etc.³ Furthermore, your right to privacy is protected even if:

• You only asked about substance abuse treatment (even if you did not receive treatment)
• You received treatment but dropped out before it was completed

To comply with these regulations, your doctor will ask you to sign an Authorization to Release/Receive [PDF–Size: 81KB] Confidential Information before your treatment with SUBOXONE begins. This form specifically applies to information about your treatment for opioid dependence, so you will need to sign it even if you are already a patient in that doctor's practice.

• Your name
• The name of the person or office you allow to disclose the information
• The reason for the disclosure
• The name of the person or office to receive the information
• The exact information to be released
• An indication that you understand that you can revoke the consent at any time and that you can do so verbally (it doesn't have to be in writing)
• The date/conditions under which the consent expires
• Your dated signature

Although your doctor may need to disclose your opioid-dependence treatment to certain key people (such as your pharmacist, for example), those people cannot then turn around and share (redisclose) your treatment information to any other party without first obtaining a signed consent from you.

• The information is needed by law enforcement or the courts
• The person seeking the information has a warrant, unless it specifically meets certain privacy regulations
• Your spouse, parent, relative, employer, or friend wants the information³

The extent to which the privacy of your treatment is protected may surprise you. For example, your physician's office cannot call and leave messages to remind you about an upcoming appointment unless that office has your signed consent to do so.

At Your Pharmacy
Your physician cannot call in or fax your SUBOXONE prescription to your pharmacy without first obtaining your signed consent. When your physician directly transmits prescriptions to pharmacies, further redisclosure of patient-identifying information by the pharmacy is prohibited, unless signed patient consent is obtained by the pharmacy as well.¹

Only if you personally hand-deliver your SUBOXONE prescription to a pharmacy may the pharmacy discuss your treatment with your doctor without your written permission.¹

At Your Methadone Clinic
Your doctor may not call your methadone clinic to verify your current methadone dose without your signed consent.