Who are your customers?
Do you have any other operations in North America?
What data does IMS HEALTH collect?
Why does IMS Health collect prescription data?
How is the data used?
How long have you been collecting information from pharmacists?
Is the data well protected?
When and why was the HIAB created?
Who are your customers?
Users of IMS health information and analysis range from the pharmaceutical industry to medical researchers, federal & provincial health departments, patient groups and medical and pharmacy associations - anyone who has an interest in improving health through evidence-based medicine.
Do you have any other operations in North America?
IMS HEALTH Canada has its headquarters in Quebec and has affiliated offices in Toronto and Edmonton. IMS HEALTH Incorporated is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut and employs nearly 4,000 employees.
What data does IMS Health collect?
IMS has been working with Canadian pharmacists for over 40 years to assemble data sets that are used by pharmaceutical manufacturers, governments, health associations, researchers, pharmacists and pharmacy associations, and the media.
Drawing upon more than 65,000 sources in the Canadian health care community including pharmacies, hospitals, physicians, pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesalers, IMS integrates and analyzes over 250 million data transactions each year. IMS does not, nor has it ever collected information that identifies individual patients.
Leading technologies in data protection and management are used to transform these transactions into information databases that report on diagnoses, disease patterns and treatments, prescribing trends, pharmaceutical consumption, physician practice preferences cost of care, and market dynamics.
Our total sample of pharmacies consists of more than 5,000 independent and chain pharmacies in Canada. Each pharmacy's data is added to a pool of information, and then projected to accurately portray the entire population in each province.
Why does IMS HEALTH collect prescription data?
IMS collects information relating to prescriptions dispensed in retail pharmacies to produce analysis of prescribing patterns and drug utilization that support informed and evidence-based decisions about drug therapy. Improved access to relevant, timely and accurate information about drug therapy and prescribing practices is a cornerstone component of efforts to improve treatment results.
These analyses are useful to the pharmaceutical industry in understanding and responding to physician information needs; to physicians who wish to receive information appropriate to their interests and practice as part of their own continuing education and self-evaluation; to researchers who monitor drug use and promote more effective and appropriate treatment methods; and to healthcare professional bodies who identify, develop and evaluate continuing education programs.
Prescription data is only released by IMS in aggregated groups composed of a minimum of 30 physicians for a particular therapeutic class. The aggregated data indicates the drugs and the average quantities prescribed for the physicians in that group. The individual prescribing estimates of a physician are never released to anyone, but are made available to the physician at no charge on a confidential basis, upon his/her written request.
How is the data used?
Aggregated prescription information is provided to individual physicians, medical researchers and pharmaceutical companies for a variety of purposes:
• Pharmaceutical companies use aggregated prescription data to better understand physicians' information needs with respect to new products and therapies; to obtain physician participation in clinical trials of new products; to tailor educational programs; to facilitate drug warnings and recalls; and to market their products in a scientifically-validated manner.
• Individual physicians use the information for self-evaluation. They can compare their aggregated prescribing patterns with those of their peers within a particular therapeutic class. A recent initiative involving prescribing feedback was the "Do Bugs Need Drugs?" program in Alberta-a project addressing the problem of antimicrobial resistance through more appropriate use of oral antibiotics. Participating physicians received credits under the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons' Maintenance of Proficiency Certification (MainPro-C) Program.
• Researchers may use aggregated prescription information to review drug utilization patterns; to develop, implement and evaluate clinical practice/prescribing guidelines, and to publish the results to promote more effective or appropriate treatment methods.
General anonymous prescription trends are provided for a number of purposes:
• Health professional bodies, such as Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons or medical and pharmacy associations, use prescription data to identify drug use trends, to evaluate adherence to prescribing guidelines and to identify education and health care issues to promote public safety.
• Pharmacies and pharmacists may use the information to evaluate the performance of their practice and monitor drug consumption.
• Federal and provincial governments may use the information to create and evaluate healthcare policies and programs; for post-marketing surveillance and patient safety initiatives; and, to improve the management and financing of the health system.
• The media use the information as independent and objective data within their health, lifestyle, policy and business articles.
How long have you been collecting information from pharmacists?
IMS HEALTH has been working with Canadian pharmacists for over 30 years. By participating in the IMS HEALTH panel, pharmacists are directly contributing to the collective knowledge about drug utilization and facilitating appropriate use of this information to advance health care.
As health reform stretches available resources, accurate and pertinent information becomes a critical element in the provision of pharmaceutical care. As the most trusted health professional, pharmacists play a key role in providing optimal patient care by facilitating the flow of information for research purposes, including pharmacy practice research, and drug utilization reviews.
Is the data well protected?
IMS takes all necessary precautions to ensure confidentiality and security of the information. IMS observes the most stringent guidelines in protecting the privacy of individuals and preserving the confidentiality of the information it collects. It complies with all provincial privacy laws, regulations and bylaws governing the professions of pharmacy and medicine in Canada.
In addition to requiring that patient data be de-identified prior to being sent to IMS, the following practices are also followed: screening records prior to acceptance to ensure they are de-identified; tightly controlling access to data and restricting use of information; routinely auditing information practices; and entering into confidentiality agreements with data suppliers, employees, and clients.
IMS operates according to its Privacy Code based on the ten principles in the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Model Code for the Protection of Information (CAN/CSA-Q830-1996) and is independently audited each year by the Quality Management Institute.
When and why was the HIAB created?
Following the adoption of Bill 68 by the Quebec Government on the protection of information in the private sector, IMS HEALTH took the initiative of setting up the Health Information Advisory Board in 1997. Since the appropriate and ethical use of health-related information and data is of prime concern to IMS, the Company sought advice and counsel from an independent, arms-length body that could provide it with guidance and counsel on issues relative to privacy. The Board's mandate consists of reviewing and ruling on exceptional requests from third parties for data from the IMS prescription database, and recommending the terms and conditions under which this information can be provided, as applicable. The Board also deliberates on ethical questions that may arise and makes appropriate recommendations. The third aspect of its mandate deals with evaluating any complaints filed by individuals or organizations.