A provision in the 2010 Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, makes it a federal requirement that the public be made aware of monetary payments made to their doctors and dentists and eye doctors (among others) by drug companies.
Big Pharma can label the payment in several ways: the big drug maker is paying the doctor or dentist for things like research as well as consulting or promos. Wow, right?
It took awhile for this information to be gathered and organized — but the results are starting to gel and be made clear.
ProPublica has been warning about this HUGE conflict of interest situation between doctors and drug companies for years.
- You can read about that at their ongoing Dollars for Doc Project site.
However, there are now other online resources where anyone who wants to look can search for their health care provider and see just how much moola they’re getting from which Big Pharma drug manufacturer.
These include:
- Pharmashine (covering 17 drug companies that make up 50% of the annual US drug sales)
- CMS
The seriousness of this situation cannot be underestimated. Think about how these medical professionals may be swayed, directly or indirectly; consciously or unconsciously, in the type of treatment they provide, the opinions they formulate, even the extent of the knowledge and know-how, by their relationship with these deep pocket drug manufacturers that are only too happy to pay cash money on a regular basis.
It’s definitely something to consider for anyone who has been injured and is dealing with an negligence or liability case.
- How much is the defense expert being paid by Big Pharma?
- How much can his or her expert opinion be trusted?
However, choosing to laugh rather than cry at what appears to be such a shocking situation (for that, read more at the ProPublica site), check out the February 2015 take on things by John Oliver on “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Marketing to Doctors (HBO)”:
