The Association Mieux Prescrire, which publishes La revue Prescrire and Prescrire International, has made its accounts public in both journals every year since 1992. The annual financial statement is also available online (see link below).
AMP, a not-for-profit continuing education organisation under the French law of 1901, owns and operates all the Prescrire publications. The association's bylaws define its aim as: “to work, in all independence, in favour of quality healthcare, first and foremost in the interest of patients".
While 2010-2011 saw a substantial increase in the number of subscribers, thanks to the extensive media coverage of the Mediator° (benfluorex) disaster in France, 2011-2012 was a year of consolidation, with a small but predictable drop in the number of subscribers (33 600 as of 31 August 2012).
In addition to the journals Prescrire and Prescrire International, AMP offers continuing education and professional development programmes for healthcare professionals: the Monthly Readers' Test, Prescrire's Thematic Training Programme and an online educational programme for nurses.
The popularity of these programmes with healthcare professionals has prompted Prescrire to develop other continuing education and professional development initiatives. For example, the subscribers who signed up for the new programme for improving professional practice, Question de pratiques, began their first assignment in March 2013.
In 2011-2012 costs increased, but less than had been expected. Prescrire will continue to develop new projects, always with the same goal: offering healthcare professionals information and training tools to help improve the quality of care.
Through Prescrire, healthcare professionals demonstrate that they are capable of financing an independent source of top-level continuing education, displaying their commitment to quality care in the interests of the patients who rely on them.
©Prescrire 1 June 2013
"The finances of Association Mieux Prescrire: 2012 Prescrire annual report" Prescrire Int 2013; 22 (139): 166-167. (Pdf, free)