The AARP Rx Watchdog Report: Academic Detailing in Practice: A Tale of Four States 

Hallowell, Maine, January 19, 2010—AARP, the nation’s largest membership organization for people age 50 and older, has just released a report that focuses on academic detailing programs that improve access to effective and affordable prescription drugs. The AARP Rx Watchdog Report is dedicated to highlighting trends in the prescription drug marketplace and how those trends impact consumers. The current issue, Academic Detailing in Practice: A Tale of Four States, gives an overview of academic detailing, also known as prescriber education, which is the practice of sending trained clinicians to prescribers’ offices to provide them with independent, objective, scientific information about prescription drugs—as opposed to drug company marketing materials. Prescription Policy Choices (PPC) promotes academic detailing as one strategy for improving access to safe, effective, and affordable prescription drugs.

PPC’s best practices and education materials are cited in the report, which also includes an interview with Jerry Avorn, the Harvard professor of medicine who first envisioned academic detailing; information about prescription drug advocacy at the federal and state levels; and reports on academic detailing in a number of states, including Maine, where PPC has been directly involved.

“The report does an excellent job of describing the importance of evidence-based information and how academic detailing programs help to improve decision-making about the safety and effectiveness of prescription drugs,” said PPC Executive Director Ann Woloson, who added, “PPC’s involvement in the development of Maine’s academic detailing program has helped to build a credible information source for both prescribers and consumers.”

In 2008, PPC convened an Academic Detailing Planning Summit involving Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and other states. Those involved collaborated on the development of A Template for Establishing and Administering Prescriber Support and Education Programs, which offers guidance to those looking to build prescriber education programs. Since then, PPC has promoted academic detailing and provided technical assistance to those interested in developing academic detailing programs.

Access the AARP Rx Watchdog Report: Academic Detailing in Practice: A Tale of Four States (362 KB). See also PPC's “Academic Detailing Toolkit,” which includes A Template for Establishing and Administering Prescriber Support and Education Programs.