We've Been Tracking Pharma Payments to Doctors For Nearly A Decade. We Just Made A Big Breakthrough

[mucifer]

Source: ProPublica

For the first time, we could map a widespread pattern: Doctors who received payments from the pharmaceutical industry prescribed drugs differently than their colleagues who didn’t. And the more money those doctors received, on average, the more brand-name medications they prescribed.

But this analysis didn’t look at specific drugs, it looked at payments overall and the share of a doctor’s prescribing that was for brand-name drugs.

Since then, we’ve worked to look at the connections between drug company money and a doctor’s prescribing habits in a more granular way. For Fresques’ new analysis, she examined the top 50 brand-name drugs prescribed to patients in Medicare Part D for which drug companies made payments to doctors. She found that for 46 of the 50 drugs prescribed in 2016, doctors who received payments related to a specific drug that year wrote more prescriptions for the drug than doctors who didn’t.



Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/weve-been-tracking-pharma-payments-to-doctors-for-nearly-a-decade-we-just-made-a-big-breakthrough

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No real surprises. I'm glad they did the research and are informing us.

[Sherman A1]

1. Agreed, No surprises but I too am glad to have some research

on the topic.

[FakeNoose]

2. How has it come about that medical doctors get paid by pharmaceuticals anyway?

Isn't that just asking people to abuse the system?

[brewens]

3. Does drug advertising cause a reverse placebo effect? People watch those ads and see the

new drug for what they think their problem is and decide they need their doctor to prescribe that. So if the doctor doesn't agree and prescribes something else, that could be a problem.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Pharma reps tell them "what's going around" and what to prescribe

it's the ticket to junkets and symposia and golf

[OldBaldy1701E]

5. I am sorry to have to say this but...

Too little... too late. Besides, anyone familiar with the medical profession already knew this 20 years ago. As if the entire supply of opiates flooding this country were all stolen from some pharmacy. They were prescribed like candy by doctors. Both side knew what they were doing. And, thanks to their greed, now if you actually need them, you won't get them, because these same vultures want to act like they are 'concerned'. Yeah, where was that concern when you were shoveling pills and rolling in dough?

[Paladin]

6. In other news, water has been determined to be wet. (nt)

[Auggie]

7. Look up a doctor: Here's the one for my 90 year old mother:

Year in review: 2016

Claims filled: 19,299

Total cost: $1.36M

Medicare Part D patients: 494

Claims for Brand Name Drugs: 25%

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My math: Total cost (1.36M) divided by patients (494) equals $2,753.03 per patient.

This doctor has a lot of geriatric clients, but 25% brand name drugs prescribed and $2,753 raises a red flag for me.

[groundloop]

8. Where's this information available?

[dalton99a]

10. Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data

https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Medicare-Provider-Charge-Data/index

[Auggie]

12. https://projects.propublica.org/checkup/states/84

This is from a link in the OP

[HissyFit]

9. I think this practice is at least unethical.

And should be made illegal. But, on the other hand, just think how much more doctors would charge if they didn't have these "supplemental" payments coming in?

How about a rule requiring doctors to disclose how much they receive from individual drug companies? Like NASCAR drivers, they could have patches on their lab coats to recognize their sponsors..."Pfizer:$50k"..."Johnson&Johnson:$100k", and so on. Or naming rights? "Welcome to the Patient Waiting Lounge, Powered by Novartis." "Exam Room #1, brought to you by Merck & Co."...

Hey, a guy can fantasize, can't he...?

[AllaN01Bear]

11. too bad we cant do that with politicians.

[mucifer]

14. yup the supreme court decided money is the same as free speech

[KPN]

13. Exactly why we need a single payer system.

“just think how much more doctors would charge”.

It’s a greed filled industry right now with tons of people going into it not because they love the idea of helping people be heathy and well as a career.

But not all are like that. My oldest son was hospitalized with something called GBS in the mid 90s. The Child Neurologist who provided his treatment charged a total of $400 after visiting and evaluating/treating him at least twice a day each visit being at least a half hour or 45 minutes. And on the critical first day, he came to be with my son 5 times including around 10 Pm, 2:30 in the morning and again at 7 am ... and that doesn’t include the initial visit to his office at about 1PM before he had him admitted the hospital. The man was a saint!

The Gastroenterologist who tried to treat my sons stomach issues related to medications he was given visited him twice for about 10 maybe 15 minutes each, prescribed additional medication that did not help and his bill was whopping $1,300+. A crook.

[HissyFit]

16. I am blessed with 3 Sons.

You were indeed blessed with a Saint of a Doctor! Thankfully, my Sons have been remarkably healthy over their lives. Two very good friends of mine, though, were stricken with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS); one as a high school Senior, and one as a retired Engineer...Both recovered, but what an ordeal it was! Thanks for sharing your story!!

[KPN]

17. Wow! GBS is relatively rare, though

my wife and I keep running into folks who went through or have a family member who went through the GBS “ordeal”.

I forgot to mention in my post, my son was in the hospital 8 days. The Dr. saw him probably 23 or 24 times over those 8 days. He is indeed a saint. He even came on a Sunday right after church with his wife and son. A remarkable person for sure. $400! That was it! His entire bill. This was in 1995, yeah, but that was nothing even then.

[bahrbearian]

15. K&R

[Steelrolled]

18. GPs are a part of the opioid problem.

But are not easily targeted by large lawsuits.