Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Massachusetts Payment Data Now Available

Coverage of the release of data under the new Massachusetts sunshine law on moneys paid by drug and device companies to physicians and others, in amounts over $50--first in the Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2010/11/23/drug_makers_payments_detailed/

--and next on the "Health Care for All" blog:
http://blog.hcfama.org/2010/11/22/dph-posts-pharma-and-device-payment-data/

The new site is said to be great for investigators because it is more easily searchable than other states' sites, and has a number of built-in reports that provide valuable data. However, only 12% of Massachusetts physicians are listed. With recent surveys showing more than 80% of docs having some sort of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry (http://brodyhooked.blogspot.com/2010/11/are-physicians-taking-fewer-bribesgifts.html), one would imagine that 12% undercounts the true figures by a good bit. On the other hand, it may be that with the strict new state law limiting gifts that physicians may receive, the percentage of docs in the state who get more than $50 worth may have declined significantly, which if true would be a major finding.

3 comments:

Michael Kirsch, M.D. said...

Howard, do you stand by this quote in your post? "With recent surveys showing more than 80% of docs having some sort of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry..."

Howard Brody said...

Michael: Not sure what your point is here. I was referring to the recent study by Campbell et al. in Archives of Internal Medicine as summarized in a recent post. Best, Howard

Michael Kirsch, M.D. said...

Howard, the stat that 80% of us have a relationship with Pharma seemed hyperbolic. Best wishes, MK