I found a great article today in NPR health blog, shots showing a website that allows you to look up how much money your doctor receives from pharmaceutical companies. Read the article below written by Scott Hensley called, "How to find out if your doctor and drugmakers are in a relationship."
"The nonprofit investigative journalism outfit ProPublica has a tool you can use to see how much money your doctor has received from drug companies. ProPublica is kind enough to share it for all to use, so I've embedded it in this post. Have at it.
ProPublica has just poured fresh figures into its Dollars for Docs database behind the tool, so you can get a better snapshot than ever before of how much money your doctor has taken drugmakers that publicly disclose the payments. A dozen companies do that now.
Starting next year, every company will have to keep track of payments and gifts to doctors worth more than $10 and report them to the federal government, thanks to a provision in the sweeping health overhaul law enacted last year. In early 2013, the information will be made publicly available on the Web.
In the meantime, ProPublica reports that eight drugmakers paid doctors more than $220 million to give promotional talks about various medicines last year. All told, a dozen companies have paid more than $760 million to doctors and other health professionals for speaking, consulting and other services between 2009 and the second quarter of 2011, according to ProPublica's analysis.
In an editorial, ProPublica reporters Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein write:
As it stands, doctors don't have to tell you if they're working with the makers of the products they're prescribing you. They don't have to tell you whether they own stock in those companies or do research on their behalf.
Financial interests have the potential to influence what your doctor decides to do or prescribe for you. While the database ProPublica put together won't answer every question you might have, it's a fine place to start."
This sounds like a great idea to me! I think that this will shock and disgust people to see how much doctors are receiving to prescribe drugs from pharmaceutical companies. I can't wait until 2013 when this will all be mandatory public knowledge.
Pura Vida!
Alica Ryan, NTP
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