A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by six pharmacies that claimed Express Scripts violated health privacy laws and poached customers, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The lawsuit, filed in 2018, claimed Express Scripts misused patient information and stole business from the pharmacies by forcing their customers to switch to Express Scripts' mail-order pharmacy.
The six pharmacies alleged that they had to share some patient information with Express Scripts or risk not getting paid for the medications they dispense. In the lawsuit, the six pharmacies claimed that Express Scripts misused customer data to identify potential mail-order clients.
However, U.S. District Judge Ronnie White ruled that retail pharmacies don't have the right to sue under federal privacy laws because the rules don't provide a "private cause of action." The judge also rejected the pharmacies' other claims.