Data Mining or Snooping for Cash?

• 12/21/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• Category: Benchmark Blog
• 16752 Views
• 0 Comments
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I read an interesting article in the LA Times this week. In this blog, I’ve spoken about Web sites and companies using data to plot flu outbreaks and epidemics, using data to plot health care trends, and so on. However, this story in the Times brings about some interesting legal (and maybe even ethical) dilemmas.

Pharmaceutical companies are now using prescription data to find out what physicians are prescribing the most and to what demographic and, consequently, learning how to better market their products. While these companies can’t know exactly who is being prescribed the medications (due to patient confidentiality), they can use this data to target the public and physicians in marketing campaigns, and they may even be using these campaigns to promote higher-priced and newer drugs.

Pharmaceutical companies state that mining this data from pharmacies and drug companies helps them to improve their products and keep their fingers on the pulse of what the public needs. Critics are saying the data really just helps the companies sell more expensive drugs. Now state legislature is getting involved and trying to regulate what data the pharmaceutical companies have access to and can use.

What are your thoughts? Do you think pharmaceutical companies should have access to this information? How should they be able to use it?