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What is the AMA PDRP?

Also called: PDRP, AMA Prescriber Data & PDRP, physician data restriction program

The AMA Physician Data Restriction Program (PDRP) lets U.S. physicians opt out of having their prescribing data made available to pharmaceutical sales representatives and their immediate supervisors.

By John Britton, VP of Marketing, MedicalProspects · Updated November 4, 2026 · Compliance

Why it matters for healthcare sales and marketing

Pharmaceutical companies use physician-level prescribing data to plan sales and marketing. The PDRP gives physicians a way to keep that data away from sales reps. Pharma companies that license prescribing data are expected to honor the restriction in how they deploy it to their field teams.

How it works

  • Who opts out: individual physicians, through the AMA.
  • What's restricted: access to that physician's prescribing data by pharmaceutical sales representatives and their immediate supervisors.
  • What isn't: the data can still be used for other purposes, such as research and aggregate market analysis, and reps can still call on the physician.
  • In practice: commercial operations teams flag restricted physicians in CRM and sales tools so reps don't see their prescribing details.
Comparison of what the PDRP restricts (prescribing data shown to pharma sales reps and their supervisors) and what it doesn't (contacting the physician, research use, aggregate analysis).
The PDRP restricts sales reps' access to a physician's prescribing data. It isn't a do-not-contact list.

Example

Illustrative scenario. A pharma company's commercial operations team loads the latest PDRP list each cycle and suppresses prescribing details for those physicians in the field CRM. Reps still see the physician's contact details and can request meetings, but call planning for those physicians uses non-prescribing information.

Common mistakes

  • Treating PDRP as a do-not-contact list. It restricts prescribing data, not contact.
  • Applying an old list. Refresh restrictions on the vendor's schedule.
  • Leaking data through other tools. Restrictions must apply in every tool reps use.

How MedicalProspects does it

MedicalProspects contact lists contain professional contact data, not prescribing data, so PDRP restrictions don't apply to them directly. Pharma teams combining our contacts with licensed prescribing data should apply their PDRP process to the combined data.

Related terms

  • HCP Reference DataHCP reference data is the master list of healthcare professionals and organizations, with stable IDs and affiliations, that a life sciences company uses as the single source of truth in its CRM, sales operations and compliance reporting.
  • Key Opinion Leader (KOL)A key opinion leader (KOL) is a clinician whose expertise and reputation shape how peers practice, for example through research, publications, guideline committees, teaching and conference talks.
  • HCP List (Healthcare Professional List)An HCP list is a database of individual healthcare professionals, such as physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and nurses, with identifiers, specialties and contact details used for sales and marketing. Its counterpart, an HCO list, covers healthcare organizations.
  • CAN-SPAM ActThe CAN-SPAM Act is the U.S. law that sets the rules for commercial email, including business-to-business email. It doesn't require prior consent, but it does require honest sender information and subject lines, a physical postal address, a working opt-out, and handling opt-outs within 10 business days.

Put it to work

Sources

  1. Physician Data Restriction Program, American Medical Association

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