In our latest video, Dr. Koka and I discuss a recent paper in JAMA that starts with the following opening paragraph.
Physicians and teaching hospitals in the United States receive approximately $7 billion from the pharmaceutical industry annually. These payments have been associated with higher-cost, brand-name pharmaceutical prescribing. Whether industry payments are associated with physician treatment choice in oncology is uncertain. We examined the association between oncologists’ receipt of payments from pharmaceutical manufacturers and drug selection in 2 situations where there are multiple treatment options.
Payments to doctors by the pharmaceutical industry are problematic, even if they amount to literally peanuts. But let’s not get distracted by the much greater and more pervasive conflicts of interest that affect implicate everyone in the health care system.
At the end of the clip, I offer my version of the kind of opening paragraph I would love to read in the medical literature (but never do):
Physicians in the United States receive approximately $700 billion from the government and insurance industry annually. These payments have been associated with higher-costs, over-utilization, over-treatment, and decreased quality. Whether government and insurance industry payments are associated with physician treatment choice is uncertain. We examined the association between physicians’ receipt of payments from the government and insurance industry with duration of office visits, quality of care as perceived by the patient, and with utilization of health care resources. The control group was composed of patients who do not accept government and insurance payment for services.
Here’s the clip.