government
Maine data ban case to be reconsidered after Supreme Court ruling
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 11, 2011
An appellate court decision in Maine preventing the use of physician prescribing information for marketing purposes has been vacated in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision finding a similar Vermont law unconstitutional.
The Maine ban, upheld by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2010, allowed physicians to opt out of having their prescribing data sold to health information firms and drugmakers for marketing.
On June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a similar ban in Vermont violated constitutional freedom of speech protections. The high court now has requested the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision be vacated and sent back to the lower court for reconsideration. At this article's deadline, the appellate court had not scheduled its reconsideration of the case.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/07/11/gvbf0711.htm.