UK physicians' Rxing data to be released

The UK and the USA appear to be heading in opposite directions when it comes to public policy concerning the sharing of physician prescribing data, according to Peter Pitts, president of the New York-based think-tank, the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. Whereas in the USA there have been a number of high-profile attempts to outlaw prescription data-sharing, for example, with legislation in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont (Marketletters passim), in the UK the government is itself considering making the data public.

The Financial Times reports that a consultation document is being prepared for distribution in April, which would invite comments on the release of data concerning 700 million prescriptions issued by general practitioners across the country. Responding to a question in Parliament, the government explained that the move would help improve treatment, make the "postcode lottery" (where patients in different districts have different levels of access to some drugs) more transparent and therefore easier to deal with, and create more accountability for general practitioners.