Physician Data Restriction

New Hampshire has struck down a ban on the purchase of physician prescription data.  The U.S. District Court in New Hampshire found that the state did not have the same interest in protecting the confidentiality of prescriber data as patients' personal data and that the law infringed upon the health information companies' commercial speech rights protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Despite this, the Vermont legislature is considering legislation similar to that which was struck down in New Hampshire and the Maine legislature is considering three such bills this session.  Recently, Maine's Health and Human Services Committee recommended passage of statute L.D. 4 An Act Protecting the Confidentiality of Prescription Information, that would permit all health care practitioners with prescribing privleges to prohibit the commercial use of their precribing data through an "opt out" system based upon the licensing boards.

All physicians can still restrict the use of their prescription data through the American Medical Association's (AMA) Physician Data Restriction Program (PDRP) which became effective 1 July 2006.  The PDRP provides for physicians to opt out of sharing prescribing data with pharmaceutical sales representatives but still keep the data available to researchers to advance important public health benefits such as timely and appropriate communication about drug recalls and evidence-based medical research.  All physicians, whether AMA members or not, are eligible for the PDRP.

Unfortunately, Maine's L.D. 4 would use state resources to establish a single state program that duplicates the intent of the PDRP, and although during debate on L.D. 4 and other bills, both the AMA and the Maine Medical Association (MMA) promoted the PDRP as a reasonable alternative; the Maine HHS Committee expressed no interest.■