Legislation would require Pharma to disclose gifts and payments to doctors

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Legislation to provide transparency in Big Pharma payments and gifts to Doctors

Gifts to doctors must be disclosed under bill By Lisa Richwine – Thu Jan 22, 5:42 pm ETWASHINGTON (Reuters) –

Drug and medical device manufacturers would need to publicly disclose all doctor payments and gifts exceeding $100 per year under U.S. legislation unveiled on Thursday.

Companies would face penalties as high as $1 million for knowingly failing to report the payments if the bill by Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley and Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl becomes law.

The effort is meant to shine light on the industry's lavish gifts to doctors, which range from pricey dinners to golf vacations, as well as consulting and speaking fees.

Critics have said the payments may skew doctors' decision-making.

...Grassley said he is considering if reporting requirements should also apply to industry payments to medical organizations, hospitals, pharmacy benefit managers, pharmacists and pharmacies, continuing medical education groups and medical schools.

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[BrklynLiberal]

1. Excellent idea. I would also like to know what Pharma stocks my doctor owns.

Critics have said the payments may skew doctors' decision-making.

HAH! MAY????????????????

[WCGreen]

2. No shit... This is long time coming...

Freebies are cool. My doc operates in a low income neighborhood and so stocks up on all the freebies he can in order to better serve his patients w/o insurance...

But he is probably just part of a sizable minority of all the doc's out there.

Full disclosure and published somewhere is definitely important.

[Lasher]

3. Free samples of drugs are not the problem.

Kickbacks for monthly volumes of prescribed drugs are a big part of the problem.

[HamdenRice]

4. I used to play pool regularly with a drug rep. His stories were astounding

He would tell us all the ways he bribed doctors, and it was pretty disgraceful. It was eyeopening to get it from a drug rep's perspective. Even he didn't like it, but it's the way the business is done.

[supernova]

5. Oh god! Drug reps, the whores of the medical establishment

It's very insane, what they do to get docs to proscribe their employers' meds.

I hated Wednesdays and Fridays at the clinic because they were drug rep days. Days they spent roaming the office halls quite freely and pestering us office staff because the doc was (rightly) in the clinic seeing patients. And I mean I had about 4 or 5 a day, each wanting to hang out on the office for an hour if they could get by with it. You do the math on how much of MY time that would have wasted if I had allowed it.

Oh, and there was the catered lunch, usually from the new trendy hot spot in town, on Wednesdays, with a "presentation" from a sales rep who had absolutely no scientific knowledge whatsoever, but who looked good and *sounded* good.

That was the sane stuff. Then there were the off site parties, and junkets to resorts for weekend, ostensibly for "education" and yes, the MDs sometimes could get CME credit.

:puke:

But you couldn't tell them to take a hike, exactly...

1) They had access to the clinical trials dept and could tell you about upcoming $$$ in the form of research grants that you might be interested in.

2) They gave away free samples that you could keep a stash of for your most needy patients. Compazine and oxycontin especially prized. Despite it's unfortunate tumble into street use, Oxy is a good pain mgt tool for cancer patients.

In short, there's got to be a better way of informing docs about drugs than the sleazy system that has sprung up.

[Ocracoker16]

6. deleted

[supernova]

7. Of course they needed a script

but we could send patients home with a sample or two, to say get them through the weekend until they could get to the pharmacy to fill their script. The reps had to write out and account for all the stuff they gave away too, to make sure they weren't giving away too much product. I forget how much we were allowed a month, it's been 10 years and the rules have probably changed.

[uppityperson]

8. Most wonderful freebie from a drug rep- a pen shaped like a syringe

printed on the side was the name of some drug, remembering it was something that would be abused by shooting it up. It was too funny. Rep handed me a bunch of these, I looked at them and started laughing "wtf?". Rep told me she had to get rid of this stuff, had an amount they HAD to give away every week and her trash can was full. If I'd take a bunch it would help her out and she'd be fine with me just tossing the crap. She was about ready to quit, couldn't take the bs anymore.