Alberta has become the second province to ban the sale of physicians' prescribing information. Pharmacies and pharmacists have been given 6 months to stop making such sales without physicians' consent. The decision came after the sales were ruled a violation of the province's Health Information Act. Companies affected by the ruling have 45 days to appeal to Information and Privacy Commissioner Frank Work.
Work determined that Alberta pharmacists and pharmacies were selling up to 37 data elements related to prescribing activity, including the physician's first and last name. However, under section 34 of the act disclosure of these names is permitted only with a physician's consent if it is being linked to the 35 other data elements.
The Alberta Medical Association (AMA) led the fight against the practice. President Steven Chambers said staff and legal counsel spent months gathering information and preparing a brief for a 2-day public hearing held in April 2002. “[The ruling] helps protect the privacy of the physician–patient relationship,” Chambers told CMAJ. He said many physicians did not know the information was being sold.
In a letter to AMA members, Chambers said the data are purchased from pharmacies by companies such as IMS Health (Canada). The process, often called data mining, is already outlawed in British Columbia.
IMS then sells the data to pharmaceutical companies, which use it for drug- detailing purposes. IMS clients can purchase reports such as Xponent, which contains information about doctors' prescribing habits with drugs in a given class. ProMap tracks monthly prescribing activity within a group of physicians and indicates which ones are writing new prescriptions for targeted drugs.
Canada's privacy commissioner has ruled that data mining does not violate a physician's privacy rights, but that decision is currently being appealed. The CMA, a staunch opponent of data mining, has been granted intervener status in that case (CMAJ 2003;168[3]:325).
Chambers advised AMA members to be “cautious and prudent” if asked to sign a consent form allowing data mining. Members have been asked to forward all consent forms to the AMA before signing. — Natalie Dunleavy, CMAJ