Just a brief note. The Supreme Court agreed with my post from a few months ago and will allow pharmaceutical companies to purchase data on physician drug prescribing practice. The vote was 6-3; Sonia Sotomayor joined Anthony Kennedy and the four pro-business conservatives.
I think having more of this data collected in a standard way will be good - and eventually will help us improve prescription practices. I'd like to see this data available in patient-friendly ways.
In an era of high patient cost-sharing, patients will start wanting to know if their doctor is making cost-effective prescription choices.