An article in the Concord Monitor reports that the 1st U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston has upheld the constitutionality of a first-in-the-nation New Hampshire law that makes doctors’ prescription writing habits confidential.
Shortly after the law took effect in 2006, IMS Health Inc. of Norwalk, Conn., and Verispan LLC of Yardley, Pa., sued to have the law overturned claiming that it violated freedom of speech provisions in the Constitution. The companies which collect, analyze and sell the prescription information argued that the law endangered public health, violated free speech and impeded research.
The data mining companies say that researchers, law enforcement and government agencies also use the data they gather and make no apologies for the profit they make in selling the data.
In April, 2007 U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro threw the law out ruling that the law placed a burden on free speech and that the State of New Hampshire had not shown that it would reduce unnecessary spending on prescription drugs.
The law prohibits pharmacies, benefits managers, insurance companies and data-mining companies from selling or using prescription information that identifies doctors for commercial purposes, including influencing sales. Supporters said it does not affect research, impede the government from collecting Medicaid data or prevent pharmaceutical companies from evaluating the data with prescribers’ identifying information removed.
A similar law in Maine was also thrown out but the appeals decision will apply to both states since they are both in the 1st Circuit.
Besides the attorney general, supporters of the law include AARP, the state Department of Health and Human Services and the New Hampshire Medical Society, which represents about three-quarters of New Hampshire’s doctors.
Jim
Dave