BusinessWeek has a very good story on efforts to limit or force disclosure of Big Pharma’s gifts to doctors — which are estimated to be about $19 billion each year.
As New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram poses the problem: “Patients should be getting prescription and device recommendations based on what’s best for them, not based on financial incentives doctors receive from companies.”
And that $19 billion figure doesn’t even include the other incentives provided by pharmaceutical companies.
Zagreus Ammon says:
I think the effort’s a bit of a waste when you consider about 1.5 M physicians in the country and the fact that post-its, pens and even the odd dinner doesn’t add up to the inflated value of the drugs these guys sample.
The mean is $1200 per doctor. I bet the median is lower…
But I always enjoy the cheerleaders.
🙂