Fragile Bird Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I was watching a John Oliver piece on drug company marketing, and after saying a million depressing things about the relationship between doctors and drug companies (which I'm sure exists in every country in the world), he said there was some good news. If you live in the USA, there is now a new government-based web base where you can search your doctor's name and find out what payments they have received from health service providers. The information is available because of the new health care legislation. Sometimes, doctors and hospitals have financial relationships with health care manufacturing companies. These relationships can include money for research activities, gifts, speaking fees, meals, or travel. The Social Security Act requires CMS to collect information from applicable manufacturers and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) in order to report information about their financial relationships with physicians and hospitals. Open Payments is the federally run program that collects the information about these financial relationships and makes it available to you. For an overview of the published data, view our factsheet. Your doctor may not be in the database, yet, the database only has 5 months worth of data so far. It's information I know I'd like to have available. I'd be curious to find out what people find. http://www.cms.gov/openpayments/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhaenysBee Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 While I truly admire the notion to make health care business transparent to the end consumer, I personally wouldn't really know what to do with the information provided by a website like this. Without thorough knowledge of medicine and of drug companies' guidelines and missions, I don't see how the information could sway me from one doctor to the other or one drug to the other. At the end of the day, I'm a patient whose most obvious option is to trust the doctor and his judgement (most likely biased by financial relationship between said doctor and certain pharmaceutical companies). However, being part of possibly one of the most corrupt health care systems of the world, I truly respect the urge to provide patients with this kind of insight into the behind the scenes of their GP visits. Personal experience: Last time I went to see my GP he straightforwardly told me that according to a drug company agent who paid him a visit that morning he is supposed to prescribe X medicine because it's supposed to be cheaper than the same medicine produced by company Y. He had the nurse check on the computer if it really is cheaper though, and it turned out version X of the medicine is only cheaper because the packaging contains two less pills than version Y, so he ended up prescribing version Y. It's another story that the pharmacy only had version X of the medicine so I eventually ended up getting that one. But I really liked how open he was about the business with the drug company agent and how he even prioritized my budget to the sells of this company. As for the list, I have no knowledge of such existing here, and I suspect it would be last thing anybody would think to come up with to improve health care service (admittedly they would be right, because this kind of transparency is the least of our problems at the moment, in my opinion). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerenthaClone Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I imagine in theory, you go in asking for a prescription that's worked for you in the past. MD says "here try this new one" and you then look him up on the website, see that he's taken a fuckton of money from the makers of the new one, and go "nah, I'd really like the old one thanks" and go from there. In theory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I was watching a John Oliver piece on drug company marketing, and after saying a million depressing things about the relationship between doctors and drug companies (which I'm sure exists in every country in the world), he said there was some good news. In the UK, as far as I'm aware, all payments or hospitality by drug companies to doctors must be declared and are publicly available. Also, Primary Care Trusts monitor doctors' prescriptions and, using the same information, have the power to investigate and initiate disciplinary measures against doctors where any link between payments or hospitality and prescription patterns can be discerned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seli Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 In the Netherlands doctors do get attention from the pharmaceutical companies. However, insurance companies and government act as counterbalance. Insurance companies since they are interested in keeping costs low, while government determines which exact drugs the companies have to include in their most basic policies.Not perfect of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N/A Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 As a med student I can attest that the drug companies definitely have that interest and they definitely pursue it early as well . My father is also a doctor and I went with him to many "conventions " sponsored by pharmaceutical companies all over . Heck last time the company's agent said they'd try to keep in touch with me for when I graduate . I found that highly entertaining ,I haven't evengraduated and I'm already getting "groomed" :lol: At any rate ,I agree with rhae . Regular folks would have no idea how to use this info . Not to mention that it can be easily made confusing and hidden through some creative accounting . Btw I think this is good . Trying to make the business more transparent but I must say that this seems more like a method that's going to spread paranoia rather than assurance . "Oh , my doctor is working for the mob ! " is not a nice idea to have and a stupid one as well . The amount of conspiracy theories on cancer treatments out there is comical , don't you think I HAVE loved ones with cancer that I'd like to help ? So yeah, I think the better approach would be regulation with government involvement . Classify what is wrong and what is not . at the end of it it's in our best interests in the medical field for our patients to be alive and healthy . It's one of the few fields were even if you're an asshole to us , we'll still help you and not spit on your burger . :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King in Black Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Big Pharma is powerful as heck. Esteemed medical journals, respected opinion makers in the fields, research labs, .... these companies have everybody in their pockets. Not to mention the lobbists and politicians of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Pepper Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 As much as I really enjoyed that John Oliver segment and found it quite informative in a number of ways, I also wouldn't know how to use this information. I suppose if a doctor seemed really shady, I'd research her on this site just to feel even more certain about my decision to drop her. Really, though, more often than not, my doctor's relationship with pharm reps has always benefitted me. One example is with my psychiatrist. I have bipolar disorder and sifting through so many meds to find an appropriate mix can be very expensive. Pharm reps give out massive samples and those docs turn around and give them to patients for free. One psychiatrist told me that he's often able to supply some patients for years for free because he receives so many samples. I myself received a free supply for several months since what worked for me wasn't covered under my prescription plan. I know many woman who got to test out different birth controls for free with these pharm rep samples. I'm certainly no fan of how the drug industry operates, but I don't think there is a reason to immediately vilify doctors who prove to have a financial relationship with a drug company. As stated above, the only time I'd find this sort of database truly useful would be more after the fact, after having gone to a doctor and felt there was something shady or uncomfortable about her care, a good research of ratings would be helpful in justifying my desire to get a new doctor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Walker Texas Ranger Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Here's a perspective on the issue from a psychiatric resident:http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/02/17/pharma-virumque/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fragile Bird Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Interesting comments. I would like to point out that the only thing I asked was whether or not anyone had found something on the database. I, of course, do not have a US doctor. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Pepper Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Yes, I have found that my shrink received $500 worth of lunches in 2013. Considering the amount of samples he has stocked (seriously, it's a huge closet full), I'm surprised it wasn't $5000 worth of lunches. I think it's possible that I'd actually use this database in a way it's not intended. I'd search for mental health docs who have a relationship with certain pharma companies as one deciding factor in choosing a provider. The problem here is that I could see narcotic drug seekers using it in the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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