Search is Powered by Google
Follow us on:
Follow our health news on Twitter
Follow Our News on Facebook
Personalization
login | register
Litigation / Medical Malpractice News

Federal Appeals Court Upholds New Hampshire Law Prohibiting Sales Of Physicians' Prescribing Histories

Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 20 Nov 2008 - 9:00 PDT

email icon email to a friend   printer icon printer friendly   write icon view / write opinions   rate icon rate article
Current Article Ratings:

Patient / Public:4 stars

4 (1 votes)

Health Professional:5 stars

5 (1 votes)

Article Opinions: 0 posts

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on Tuesday upheld a New Hampshire law prohibiting the sale of information about physicians' prescribing practices for use in prescription drug marketing, the AP/Lexington Herald-Leader reports (Love, AP/Lexington Herald-Leader, 11/18). The New Hampshire law is intended to reduce state health care costs by removing the tools that pharmaceutical representatives use to target physicians to promote brand-name drugs (Saul, New York Times, 11/19). The law prohibits pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers, insurance companies and data-mining companies that collect and analyze prescription information from selling or using that information for commercial purposes (AP/Lexington Herald-Leader, 11/18).

The decision by the three-judge panel overturns a 2007 ruling by U.S. District Judge Paul Barbadoro of Concord, N.H., who said the law violated the First Amendment. Data-mining companies IMS Health and Verispan had argued that the law infringed on commercial free speech and that the collection of prescription drug information was valuable for public health.

In the decision on Tuesday, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Bruce Marshall Selya wrote that the reselling of prescription information is "mind-boggling" in its scope, adding, "The record contains substantial evidence that, in several instances, [drug company representatives] armed with prescribing histories encourage the overzealous prescription of more costly brand-name drugs regardless of both the public health consequences and the probable outcome of a sensible cost/benefit analysis." The appeals court wrote that "the state adequately demonstrated that the Prescription Information Law is reasonably calculated to advance its substantial interest in reducing overall health care costs within New Hampshire."

According to the Times, Tuesday's decision could have implications in other states that have or are considering similar laws. New Hampshire State Rep. Cindy Rosenwald (D), who sponsored the legislation, said, "A lot of states have been looking at this and have come very close to enacting it and then they've basically said while this is still on appeal, we should just wait" (New York Times, 11/19).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.




Personalized Homepage Weekly Newsletters Daily News Alerts
Hemophilia Opioid Induced Constipation Pneumococcal Disease ADHD Anxiety Asthma Atrial Fibrillation Autism Cancer Diabetes Lung Cancer Lupus Medicare / Medicaid Obesity and BMI Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells All 'What Is...' Articles

Ophthalmology Urology
About Us News Licensing Free Website Feeds Free Tools & Content Tell a Friend Accessibility Help / FAQ Article Submission Links Contact Us

add medical news today to your facebook
medical news gadget

Please fill in our survey

Swine Flu Image

Swine Flu Updates

- Latest Swine Flu News
- What is Swine Flu?
- Map Of H1N1 Outbreaks
- Swine Flu - Top 20 FAQ
- Daily Email News Alerts
Stick with Medical News Today for the latest news updates on swine flu.


These are the most read articles from this news category for the last 6 months:
Top Article Star
Criticism Of Popular Oral Contraceptive Yaz Could Harm Product's Appeal, New York Times Reports
29 Sep 2009
The popular oral contraceptives Yaz and Yasmin have been tainted recently by safety concerns raised by researchers, health advocates and lawyers for plaintiffs who have filed lawsuits against manufacturer Bayer Healthcare, the New York Times reports...


Flossing Your Teeth The Right Way
Flossing Your Teeth The Right Way

Flossing is important for a healthy mouth. But to get the most benefit without causing pain, you need to know how to do it the right way.

more videos are available in our health videos section.