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Loading...States Cracking Down on Big Pharma Gifts to Docs
Do pharmaceutical gifts to doctors improve patient care… or is the relationship just a bit too cozy for comfort? Are they helping doctors to gain important information about available prescription medications, or attempting to influence them into prescribing high-cost drugs for the wrong reasons?
The American Heart Association reports that almost two-thirds of Americans currently use medicines, 49 percent of those being prescription drugs and 30 percent over-the-counter, and 32 million Americans take three or more medications daily.
With billions of dollars at stake every year, pharmaceutical companies, physicians, and state legislators have differing views… as do patients.
If New York Governor David Paterson has his way, pharmaceutical companies will face stricter regulation of the practice of giving gifts to physicians. New York isn’t the first state to address the influence of pharmaceuticals.
In Minnesota, where pharmaceutical company gifts to doctors valued at more than $50 are already banned, three new bills are under consideration. One would require health regulators to develop a drug-education program for doctors, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals designed to provide evidence-based recommendations for pharmaceuticals use. A second would restrict data-mining of doctors’ prescription records in order to tailor marketing messages, and the third would expand Minnesota’s law banning pharma gifts to doctors to also cover device companies.
Vermont law requires pharmaceutical companies to disclose the dollar value of gifts over $25 to doctors, and prohibits nearly all financial and other gifts (free food, travel, entertainment, subscriptions, or anything else of value) from pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies to doctors, nurses, hospital staff and others. Gifts that provide help to patients (free samples, scholarships, short-term loans of medical equipment) are still allowed, but must be fully disclosed to the state Office of the Attorney General.
Massachusetts law prohibits gifts to legislators and other public officials of anything worth more than $50.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures – Marketing and Direct-to-Consumer Advertising (DTCA) of Pharmaceuticals:
As of December 1, 2009, nine states: California (2004), Florida (2006) Maine (2003, 2005, 2007), Massachusetts (2008), Minnesota (1993), New Hampshire (2006), South Carolina (2006), Vermont (2002, 2007, 2009), West Virginia (2001), and the District of Columbia (2003, 2008), have laws or resolutions affecting pharmaceutical marketing. A separate Texas law (2007) requires a state-sponsored public awareness campaign to educate consumers about marketing solicitations by email or Internet. Texas (2009) also has required a study regarding the confidentiality of prescription information records. The specific provisions differ among these states. Note that states such as Maine and Vermont each have two or more separate laws, enacted in different years. Measures that passed both legislative chambers in California and Colorado but were vetoed are not included in the tally above.
There is no doubt that pharmaceutical advances have improved and saved lives, but with pharmaceutical companies bombarding us through ads on television and radio and generous give-aways to doctors, patients would be wise to question the process leading up to that prescription being written.
Are such regulations just another overreaching government intrusion into the private marketplace, or a much-needed protection of patients’ rights?
Please take a moment to answer the poll and share your opinions in the comment section below. We’d love to hear from some medical professionals as well as patients.
From Care2 Causes: Should Pharmaceutical Ads Be Banned from TV?
From Care2 Healthy & Green: Nutrients Depleted by Common Pharmaceutical Drugs
Read more: big pharma, david patterson, doctors, health policy, patient rights, pharmaceutical companies, physicians
Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/755991
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
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Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
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45 comments
+ add your own@jane - i am glad more and more people are aware of this killer policy all the major drug companies are marketing. So, i keep my family healthy using what nature gave not this killer drugs. I hate doctors and hospitals that is why i have a really healthy way of life.
Lukas
medical springs
Big Pharma...the devils advocate. It's all about keeping us sick and keeping us on medicine, or making us believe we need it. The number 2 killer in the US...prescription drugs.
Paying off doctors and government in leaps and bounds. No morals on their side. They do believe that making trillions of dollars each year at the health risks and lives of others is perfectly okay.
I have wrote about this several times, and I know I sound like a parrot, so today, I'm going to hold my tongue.
Great article; thanks, Ann. I think strict regulation is a good idea.
good story
I agree with Isis. Also in Greece the doctors and pharma companies have only one vision MORE MONEY.
There will be a loophole in this one too.
Gifts to doctors by pharm. caompanies takes place a great deal in Italy, or so i am led to believe. Also in the form of congresses where the doctors simply regale themselves in luxury hotels.
I am a hard working pediatrician. I am not "MOST" doctors! Why do people act so mindlessly with their comments about how "most" doctors respond to the pharmaceutical industry? I have NEVER received anything more valuable than a cheap ballpoint pen for my staff to use. My partners and other colleagues NEVER accept so-called "bribes" for prescribing ANY drug! We use training and common sense when we choose to treat our littlest patients, and I resent the silly labels that non-thinking commentators apply to all physicians!
The big pharmaceutical companies are part of what make health care so costly. Things have gotten really out of hand.
Pharmaceutical companies generally care about their own interests, not about patients.
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