Databases as policy instruments. About extending networks as evidence-based policy.
BACKGROUND
This article seeks to identify the role of databases in health policy. Access to information and communication technologies has changed traditional relationships between the state and professionals, creating new systems of surveillance and control. As a result, databases may have a profound effect on controlling clinical practice.


METHODS
We conducted three case studies to reconstruct the development and use of databases as policy instruments. Each database was intended to be employed to control the use of one particular pharmaceutical in the Netherlands (growth hormone, antiretroviral drugs for HIV and Taxol, respectively). We studied the archives of the Dutch Health Insurance Board, conducted in-depth interviews with key informants and organized two focus groups, all focused on the use of databases both in policy circles and in clinical practice.


RESULTS
Our results demonstrate that policy makers hardly used the databases, neither for cost control nor for quality assurance. Further analysis revealed that these databases facilitated self-regulation and quality assurance by (national) bodies of professionals, resulting in restrictive prescription behavior amongst physicians.


CONCLUSIONS
The databases fulfill control functions that were formerly located within the policy realm. The databases facilitate collaboration between policy makers and physicians, since they enable quality assurance by professionals. Delegating regulatory authority downwards into a network of physicians who control the use of pharmaceuticals seems to be a good alternative for centralized control on the basis of monitoring data.
de Bont
Antoinette
A
ErasmusMC, Institute of Health Policy and Management, Postbox 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. a.debont@erasmusmc.nl
Stoevelaar
Herman
H
Bal
Roland
R
D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000592:standards*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D017144:Focus Groups; D006291:Health Policy; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009426:Netherlands; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011050:Policy Making; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000295:instrumentation*
D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents; D019382:Human Growth Hormone; D017239:Paclitaxel