First, Data Mining; Now, "Patient Priming"

Thought you'd seen it all? Well, the infiltration of drug company marketing into every corner of our lives scoffs at boundaries. Now that nearly half of all states are considering laws banning prescription data mining, the industry is developing a new technique: "patient priming."

What is it, exactly? It's so breathlessly new that I'm not entirely certain what it is. But it can't be good. You can certainly learn more if you register for this webcast to take place February 5, produced by Medical Marketing & Media magazine and sponsored by HealthGrades. Here's how they describe the event:

"Understanding and Priming the Pre-Visit Patient

The point at which a patient plans and schedules a visit to their doctor represents a significant window of opportunity for promoting treatment options and maximizing the growth of specific brands. Experts in patient engagement and marketing from the pharmaceutical, agency and media fields discuss pharma's role in priming the pre-visit patient for a more beneficial dialogue with their physician.

Featured speakers:
Jan R. Rutherford, Jr., Senior Vice President, Sponsorship and Advertising, HealthGrades
Robert Palmer, Managing Partner, S&H Digital, Sudler & Hennessey Company"

I'm guessing this is a scheme cooked up by HealthGrades to convince more drug companies to advertise on their site. I just went to the HealthGrades page evaluating me as a doctor, and noticed a banner ad for Concerta. I assume Mr. Rutherford will entice companies to use HealthGrades to prime "pre-visit patients" and encourage them to demand specific brands from their physician. Yes, this is just another version of direct-to-consumer advertising, but the Orwellian language makes it all sound particularly insidious.

Signed,

Your Pre-Visit, Pre-Primed Physician

Victory in New Hampshire: No More Data-Mining

Yesterday, in a historic victory for physicians and patients, the First Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld New Hampshire’s Prescription Confidentiality Act, which prohibits drug reps from using prescription information for pharmaceutical detailing.

This is a huge victory. While both Maine and Vermont have passed anti-data mining laws, industry-funded lawyers have challenged the laws on the basis that they violate the First Amendment protections on free speech. In fact, these same lawyers were able to convince a district court to strike down the New Hampshire law in April 2007, and since then, according to this article by the Associated Press, many other states have frozen their efforts to regulate this sleazy marketing practice while they wait to see how courts rule.

Now, they have their answer. Yesterday’s decision marks the first time a federal court has upheld such laws. According to Sean Flynn, a law professor who has spearheaded efforts to ban data-mining, the federal court "refused to apply the First Amendment to the trading of prescription records for marketing purposes where ‘information itself has become a commodity.’ The court explained that applying the First Amendment to such trade in prescription data 'stretches the fabric of the First Amendment beyond any rational measure.’”

You can almost hear the great clicking sound of dominos falling as the 18 other states considering anti-data mining laws get back to work on them.

Click here for an excellent fact sheet on prescription data-mining, courtesy of the Prescription Project. I have covered this issue from various perspectives here.

Let's hope that drug companies will use the millions they were spending on data-mining for something more useful to society--like research and development.