RICHMOND, Va. (June 29) -- A state official says there are reports that some doctors are reluctant to prescribe powerful painkillers after an April hacker attack on a massive state-run drug database.
Legislators also learned that the former head of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency was dismissed after refusing to pay a bill from the agency's contracted partner for work months past due.
Department of Health Professions Director Sandra Ryals told a House committee Monday that she has reports that some doctors are withholding prescriptions for powerful painkillers.
With the database intended to flag drug abuse and theft still offline, she said, some are being highly cautious about issuing the prescriptions. She said there have been no patient complaints about missing necessary drugs.
She said 35 million of the most sensitive prescription records were accessed on April 30. Officials still don't know how many contained Social Security numbers. The state sent 530,000 notices to people earlier this month that critical information may have been compromised.
