Articles/Links: Sale of Physician Prescribing Profiles

• Using Data Mining to Get Brand Switching Author: S. Neyhart – April, 1998
  A senior manager at the IMS corporation describes the data mining methods used by a client company to regain market share after the introduction of a new drug into its class. The article highlights the speed and efficacy of the data mining methods used in by the industry, and the resources available to pharmaceutical companies that seek to alter physicians’ prescribing habits.
• For Sale: Physicians’ Prescribing Data Author: R. Steinbrook – June, 2006
  Publication: New England Journal of Medicine
  The author describes current data mining practices, responses and policy issues. Physician prescriber data in the U.S. is purchased by pharmaceutical companies from health care information companies (e.g. IMS) and is linked with the Physician Masterfile of the American Medical Society, which sells use of the file to the industry. Responding to criticism about these practices, the AMA now offers an “opt-out” for physicians, while the California Medical Association has initiated a program with IMS to allow physicians who do not opt-out to see their personal data. The state of New Hampshire passed a ban on the practice and other states may follow.
• New Hampshire Prescription Confidentiality Act Author: State of New Hampshire – June, 2006
  The New Hampshire statute (N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §318:47-f) makes illegal the sale of patient or prescriber identity for promotional or marketing use in the pharmaceutical industry. It is the first statewide ban aimed at curbing data mining. The bill was sponsored by a bipartisan group of state representatives and senators, with the support of the NH Medical Society.READ MORE »
• A Call for the Regulation of Prescription Data Mining Authors: D. Zoutman, B. Douglas Ford, Assil R. Bassili - 2000
  Publication: Canadian Medical Association Journal
  The authors review tactics employed by the Canadian division of IMS Health, which collects prescription data from 4000 Canadian retail pharmacies and sells the information to major pharmaceutical companies that use it to develop and evaluate marketing strategies. The authors recommend greater oversight, annual physician consent forms, and independent provincial oversight boards be developed in order to regulate and limit the use of data mining and ensure optimal prescribing in publicly funded health care programs.