Attorney Thomas Julin -- who was representing IMS Health, Verispan and Source Healthcare Analytics -- asked a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block implementation of the law until the court decided whether to uphold a lower court ruling in favor of the state.
Julin argued that the information gathered by the data-mining firms is noncommercial speech protected by the First Amendment.
However, Vermont Assistant Attorney General Bridget Asay said no substantial First Amendment issues were at stake and called the data-mining firms' work a "covert marketing tool."
Asay said that the Vermont Prescription Confidentiality Law regulates commercial marketing of health data to promote public health, medical privacy and to contain health care costs. She added that the state found that data marketed by the companies led to higher health care costs and contributed to inappropriate prescribing decisions.
However, Julin said that the state cannot prove that the law will reduce health care costs.
Automated summary from: iHealth Beat
