Obamacare Sunshine Act sheds light on $3.5B paid to doctors
By Peter Frost, Alex Richards, Cynthia Dizikes and Ellen Jean Hirst, Chicago Tribune | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The data mark the first disclosure of anything approaching comprehensive information on the once-confidential financial ties between doctors and drug- and device-makers.
The data include 4.4 million payments and other transfers of value by drug- and device-makers to some 546,000 U.S. physicians and 1,360 teaching hospitals made between
But it is significantly incomplete, and physician and industry groups have raised concerns about accuracy and context.
About 40 percent of the information was "de-identified" -- essentially redacting a doctor's name and other information -- because federal officials could not confirm the information's accuracy.
Patient advocates and lawmakers have long pushed to make the data public, saying such arrangements are rife with potential conflicts. Several studies have shown that payments or gifts, however small, alter doctors' prescribing patterns and influence how they practice medicine.
The data were released as a requirement under the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act, a lesser-known provision of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Federal officials hope publication of the data will help consumers make better health care decisions by better understanding their doctors' relationship with industry, said Dr.
"We are taking a big step forward in shining the light on these financial arrangements," Agrawal said. "Using this new data, it is now possible to conduct a wide range of analyses of payments made by drug and device manufacturers that were never possible before."
Nearly 40 pharmaceutical and medical device companies in
Some of the biggest named recipients were in orthopedics and neurology.
For example, Dr.
A top recipient of payments not related to research was Dr.
Dr.
"That's all I do is consultancy," Sanders said. "I have an MD and this is a company that makes medical devices, so I'm required to report it. ... It's not like I'm a doctor in practice receiving gobs of money from a company and I'm touting their products."
Dr.
Dr.
Penn said he co-founded CNS Therapeutics, a company that developed an implantable pump to deliver drugs to the central nervous system to treat neurological disorders. He sold the company in late 2012. The
"That represents the payment to me from selling the company," said Penn, who added that he is a supporter of the Sunshine Act. "There are a lot of doctors who get huge amounts of money from companies for things that might or might not be questionable depending on your stance on this."
Another top recipient, Dr.
"It eliminates the conflict of choosing a device that we might personally gain from," Cole said. "It assures that we always use the best possible implant for the patient whether it is something we designed or a different implant."
Other top recipients could not be reached.
In releasing the data, officials cautioned that the government has not drawn any conclusions about the disclosed payments, nor should anyone else.
"Financial ties and relationships between medical manufacturers and health care providers do not necessarily signal wrongdoing,"
"The open payments program does not identify which financial relationships are beneficial and which could cause conflicts of interest."
Another 190,000 payments were not released because they involved research for investigational drugs or new uses for drugs that had not yet been approved for sale, according to the
Companies were allowed to delay reporting those payments for competitive reasons.
Some of the withheld data are expected to be published next year, while other details could continue to be withheld.
Under the new requirements, all drug- and device-makers that have at least one product covered by the government health insurance programs
The data include research grants and general payments for items such as consulting fees, travel reimbursements, speaking fees and other gifts.
Doctors and the drug and device industry warn that the data are of limited value because of incompleteness and a lack of context.
The
It said only 26,000 of the 546,000 physicians included in the data were able to register, review and correct inaccuracies.
"Patients deserve to have access to accurate information, yet publishing inaccurate data leads to misinterpretations, harms reputations and undermines the trust that patients have in their physicians," said Dr.
While many companies in the health care industry say they support the Sunshine Act, trade groups and associations representing them have fought aspects of the disclosure called for under the provision.
As a result, the database was delayed several times. The series of disputes between the industry and the government led to the withholding of recipients' identities on more than 1.7 million records.
Among
The
It said the large amount of missing data in the release may help explain its outlier status in
"Takeda diligently tracks transfers of value to (doctors and hospitals), and carefully reviews such information before submitting it to (the government,)," said
Spokeswoman
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