Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17989

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Tsai AC
Free Software and Physician Profiling
JAMA 2002 Jan 2; 287:(1):45
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/287/1/45

Abstract:

In his review of ePocrates qRx Dr Hogan fails to discuss the pharmaceutical industry’s access to ePocrates-assembled data on physician prescribing behavior.1 While Hogan extols the convenient AutoUpdate feature, he neglects to mention that personally identifiable usage data are also uploaded to the ePocrates server during the same process.

The ePocrates privacy policy illustrates the usage data obtained: “This [sic] data may include, for instance, which Software screens you visit most often and the number of times you have looked up a certain drug.“2 These data may be sold to third parties, but, barring acquisition of ePocrates, Inc or its assets, pharmaceutical firms are only permitted to purchase aggregated data.2 Even lacking access to user-specific information, however, pharmaceutical firms can learn much about physician prescribing behavior. The ePocrates data provide pharmaceutical firms with an additional tier of information not available previously: insights into the processes that . . .