AMA Prescribing Data - opting out

[Guest guest]

More info.

Locke

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I wasn't aware of this, but saw it on another list.

The fly in the ointment is -- how am I supposed to opt out of something that I didn't even know existed?

May not be a big deal to some, but interesting how are data is moved around.

Of course, the elephant in the room is...if it's my data...why don't I get a cut of the profit the AMA gets from selling the information?

Locke, MD

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You can deny access to pharmaceutical sales reps to your individual prescribing data by opting out at the AMA's Physician Data Restriction Program here:

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/12054.html

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http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/432/pdrp_brochure.pdf

Physicians have widely varying attitudes on whether their prescribing

data should be shared with pharmaceutical sales representatives.

To assess the depth of concern about representatives’ use of

prescribing data, the American Medical Association (AMA), working

with Gallup, conducted a national survey of physicians. It uncovered

one major point of agreement: 84 percent of physicians either were not

concerned or reported their concerns would be alleviated if they had a

chance to opt out of sharing prescribing data with reps.

Accordingly, the AMA Board of Trustees recommended and the AMA

House of Delegates overwhelmingly approved a plan to create the

Physician Data Restriction Program (PDRP). Introduced in July 2006,

the PDRP empowers all physicians to make their own choice.

The PDRP responsibly honors the opinions of all physicians—and

provides a more reasonable alternative to a “one-size-fits-all” legislative

ban that ignores vital aspects of prescribing data use.

The AMA does not collect, sell or have access to prescribing

data. But, health information organizations (HIO) match the AMA’s

Physician Masterfile to prescribing data from other sources.

The HIOs then license the combination of prescribing data and

the AMA Physician Masterfile to pharmaceutical companies. This

situation enables the AMA to enforceably assure compliance with

the PDRP.

In practice, the program is simple and extremely easy for all

physicians to use. Physicians just visit a Web site (www.ama-assn.

org/go/prescribingdata) to opt out of having their prescribing data

released to pharmaceutical representatives. Pharmaceutical

companies are required to check the opt-out list a minimum of

quarterly, and they then have 90 days to comply with the request.

As an extra service, the program also allows physicians to report

specific instances of inappropriate behavior by pharmaceutical

sales reps or companies.

PDRP puts the opt-out choice into the hands of physicians—the

professionals most qualified to make informed decisions.

The PDRP gives physicians an effective opt-out mechanism to

address their concerns about the use of prescribing data. At the

same time, it also ensures that vital information on prescribing

patterns will continue to be available for beneficial public health

purposes. Some of these include evidence-based medical

research, structuring clinical trials, efficient drug recalls, aiding the

Food and Drug Administration’s ongoing post-approval assessment

of drug benefits vs. risks, and many other uses.

Along these lines, the AMA will soon introduce a new information

resource in cooperation with various state and specialty medical

societies. Designed to increase the transparency of prescribing

data, AMA Therapeutic Insights, a Web-based newsletter, will focus

on one therapeutic topic per quarter, providing evidence-based

guidelines, including local and national prescribing data,

for physician self-evaluation and Continuing Medical Education

(CME) credit.

Phase II of the project will allow a physician to compare his or her

individual prescribing habits with those of peer groups.

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Does the collection of prescribing data benefit physicians and patients?

The AMA's Physician Data Restriction Program (PDRP) provides physicians a choice while ensuring that vital information on prescribing patterns continues to be available for beneficial public health purposes. Some of these include evidence-based medical research, structuring clinical trials, efficient drug recalls, aiding the FDA's ongoing post-approval assessment of drug benefits vs. risks, and many other uses.

Download a PDRP brochure (PDF, 248KB)

Collecting prescribing data can also benefit physicians by providing them with a self–evaluative tool that helps them compare prescribing data to evidenced-based guidelines.

Download an AMA Therapeutic Insights brochure (PDF, 122KB)

Visit the AMA Therapeutic Insights Web site.

Why is the AMA positioned to offer this program?

AMA does not collect or license prescribing data While the AMA does not collect, compile, license, sell or have access to physician prescribing data, it does offer individual physicians a choice in how their prescribing data are used. For over a century, the AMA has been recognized as a trusted source of physician practice, licensure, and medical education data. The AMA licenses these data to prevent fraud and abuse, for physician manpower planning, to verify physician credentials in accordance with the standards of accreditation organizations and by government officials during times of national disaster like Sept. 11th and Hurricane Katrina.

Physician professional data are also licensed to Healthcare Organizations (HIOs) who append prescribing data to the data they license from the AMA for use by pharmaceutical companies. Although the AMA licenses physician practice data to the HIOs, these organizations have multiple sources of physician data independent of the AMA that enable them to collect and license prescribing data without licensing AMA data.

The fact that AMA data are utilized by the HIOs enables the AMA to exert regulations on how physician data are used as well as offer programs such as the PDRP which empowers physicians. Compliance with such programs is mandated through AMA licensing agreements.

Last updated: Apr 10, 2007Content provided by: Database Licensing

Physician Data Restriction Program

Your decision to restrict the release of your prescribing data to pharmaceutical sales representatives has been received.

If you want a record of your data restriction confirmation print this screen.

If you would like to remove this restriction, you may do so at any time by calling or sending us an e-mail at pdrp@....

Pharmaceutical manufacturers will be required to check the Physician Data Restriction Program database quarterly. Once they check the database, due to various pharmaceutical data cycles, it may take up to an additional 90 days for a pharmaceutical company to restrict sales representatives from having access to your individual prescribing data. After this time frame, if you feel a pharmaceutical company or sales representative is not honoring your restriction, please contact the AMA

PDRP Colleague Referral

Do you have a friend or colleague who may be interested in the AMA Physician Data Restriction Program? If so, you can let them know by using the PDRP Colleague Referral.

If you need additional information, please contact us at pdrp@... or , 8:30a.m. - 4:45p.m. (US Central Time), Monday through Friday.