Supreme Court to Hear Vermont Data Mining Ban – Sorrell vs. IMS Health – April 26, 2011

Tomorrow, April 26^th the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Sorrell v. IMS Health, an opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit concluded that a Vermont law, which banned data mining companies from selling prescription information to pharmaceutical companies, was unconstitutional.  Shortly after the decision, the Vermont filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Consequently, a recent article from MM&M noted that, “the firms fighting for their right to sell physician data got an assist as a host of big names, including a pair of former Health and Human Services secretaries, filed 16 supportive amicus briefs with the Supreme Court.”

The article noted that “among those urging the court to overrule state laws, like Vermont’s, that ban the use of physician prescription data for pharma marketing were former HHS heads Dr. Louis Sullivan, MD and Gov. Tommy Thompson, who wrote that the Vermont statute “makes it harder, not easier, for healthcare professionals to identify and reduce the substantial variations that exist in the delivery of healthcare services and the considerable health disparities that affect the lives of many Americans.”

Additionally, “the Chamber of Commerce filed an amicus brief in the case, as did a host of publishers, including AP, Bloomberg, McGraw-Hill, Hearst Corp. and even ProPublica, calling computerized analysis of data “a centerpiece of freedom of speech in our 21st-Century information-centric democracy.”  Other signatories included physicians, advertising and medical trade groups and think tanks.  In addition to IMS, SDI, Wolters Kluwer’s Source Healthcare Analytics unit and PhRMA are fighting the Vermont law.  Several other amicus briefs were recently filed including Coalition for Health Care Communications and The Genetic Alliance/National Organization for Rare Disorders.  

However, “the Justice Department, 34 states and the District of Columbia, along with the American Academy of Family Practitioners, American Academy of Pediatrics and the New England Journal of Medicine” filed briefs asking the Supreme Court to reverse the First Circuit’s decision.

Similar laws are pending in a number of states, and John Kamp, executive director of the Coalition for Healthcare Communication, said that if upheld, Vermont’s policy would swiftly be adopted coast-to-coast.  Kamp told MM&M that if the Vermont law is kept in place, “these statutes will be adopted quickly in the big states, and then the opponents of branded products will go after other medical data and data analytics.”  This outcome would be problematic for a number of reasons, and would have an adverse affect on patients and health care practitioners.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case starting April 26, and a decision is likely to come in September.