Using EHR System Alerts and Reminders to Advertise?

​Sponsored, patient record–driven electronic health record (EHR) system alerts might soon be commonplace. An article in the March 3, 2015, Wall Street Journal looks at this potential emerging niche. A technology startup provides its alert technology, which draws on a large repository of data to calculate when tests, vaccinations, or other treatments might be helpful, for free to clinics. Other corporations, such as pharmaceutical manufacturers, sponsor relevant messages. The concern arises, however, that "free software subsidized by drug companies could be seen as an undue incentive."