Long Range PlanEssay Preview: Long Range PlanReport this essayDo you agree that mining physician data should be illegal? Why or why not?Data mining should be illegal for the pharmaceutical companies to gather data for prescriptions to doctors. In some cases, data mining has generated numerous law suits and wrongful deaths. It is based solely on the ethic principle, especially when some drugs are not FDA approved. Public officials, professional societies and physicians have called for stricter regulation of the physician-sales representative relations. There were reports where physicians were provided gifts and even extra payment during the meeting sessions. Even worse is when the sales agencies sell the consumers personal contact information to other similar agencies. Anything that influences the physician to prescribe a particular drug should be illegal, if not based on a FDA approved drug. This only provides more opportunity for corruption for physicians to receive “cut backs” for their efforts to sell a particular drug of choice.
As a patient how do you feel about pharmaceutical companies mining your doctors data?Given the high costs of their detailing efforts, drug companies are eager to employ the most efficient ways to identify physicians who might be persuaded to prescribe their drugs. From the patients perspective, this is truly a violation of privacy and it has not been proven that the pharmaceutical companies are not using your personal information for other illegal means to increase sales and productivity. Mining is acceptable when used to inform health care research and that only. Some of the recalled drugs in the past were prescribed by many doctors due to the efforts of influence by the pharmaceutical companies. Also, these actions increase the possibility of physicians prescribing more expensive drugs to patients versus the less expensive or generic brands, which are both effective. Increases in health care cost are affected by these prescribing decisions.
As an employee one of the pharmaceutical companies how do you feel about mining physician data?While concerns about patient confidentiality have been voiced about data mining, data mining companies are required to strip their records of information that can identify patients. It is mandated and enforced by HIPAA (Orentlicher, 2010). Even as an employee, data mining of physicians for monetary gain and selling the information to other organization should be considered illegal. The possibility of an unethical dilemma is highly-likely for employees who are forced to disclose personal information to third parties by upper management. This is problematic not only for the patients well-being but also for societys health care spending as well. The inadequate treatment may also result in the need for costly, in-patient treatment at a hospital. As usual,
A physician is an employee with no personal personal information, and the information is kept in a private file which is kept “private”… that is, only to employees.
The law specifies that a physician has the right “to obtain…the necessary information” about a patient. It does not, however, mandate “any special information or specific personal information that could pose a substantial risk of disclosing the physician’s name, address, telephone number, or other personal information to the public or others using that [employee’s] identity, except to those whose records are maintained by the public and those persons whose individual records are in the patient’s possession and are not in the patient’s physical possession (Burdock, p. 546). It does state that the physician who provides the information must not be considered an unqualified employee and that any employee that might take such care is subject to the same treatment (Burdock, p. 546-547). The law does not provide additional protections for medical information without a doctor’s direct consent.
A physician who is deemed ‘a representative’ has been described as being at risk of being “obliged or otherwise excluded from the use of health care resources”. As a result, it is advisable the law of employer privacy regulations apply to both physicians and patients. As with other privacy rights the law protects “other interests” including the confidentiality, privacy and confidentiality of information held while the physician performs care or patients are present in a specified area.
In addition there is also a definition of ‘personal data’, which encompasses information that’s stored and accessed in a doctor’s room or medical records. It is also a common practice for non-profit organization to collect personal data for financial gain or to sell the data to other organization for further monetary gain. The law does not mandate the collection the data for “personal purposes”, but the law also requires physicians to disclose the personal information to their patients. This is different than a physician would be required to disclose personal information to their patients… the statute specifically doesn’t define “personal data” but rather “information on which there is a reasonable suspicion that a patient has received, or that may have received, a medical or behavioral diagnostic test, or treatment, that a doctor or physician might consider necessary for screening, therapy, or referral (Lagrave, 2012). There may be other data that is obtained through personal data collection or sale and the data being collected by a physician may provide useful information for physicians with an understanding of the risks incurred for patient access and may enhance their ability to perform their job in a timely manner. This information is collected at a medical or mental health emergency facility that must be administered to a physician to ensure safe, sound and effective management.