Without the American Medical Association program that lets physicians opt out of having their prescribing data sold to pharmaceutical companies, physicians would have no influence on how their data are used by sales people, the association told two senators who inquired about the program.
The Physician Data Restriction Program (PDRP) allows individual physicians to restrict pharmaceutical companies from disclosing their prescribing data to pharmaceutical sales representatives.
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), assistant majority leader, wrote to the AMA asking about the type of outreach and physician education the association does on the program, the number of physicians who participate, and how the AMA ensures pharmaceutical companies adhere to the program.
AMA Executive Vice President and CEO Michael Maves told the senators that the PDRP has been promoted in more than 70 periodicals, through e-mail “blasts,” and in the annual AMA physician census. “The AMA has done significant outreach and marketing to the physician community at large,” Dr. Maves said in the letter, adding that, as of April, some 13,000 physicians had chosen the program.
Physicians who believe their data have been used inappropriately can complain through the AMA; to date, only one such complaint has been received, Dr. Maves said.
“Upon AMA investigation, the pharmaceutical company found an error had been made during processing,” he told the senators. “The process error was immediately corrected and additional safeguards were put in place.”
The senators said they are considering legislation to create a federal academic detailing program, which could be an objective source of information on all prescription drugs.