|
 In most cases, the payments were worth less than $50, researchers
found. But a few doctors were taking industry payments worth at
least $93,622.
"Most dermatologist in the U.S. – about 73 percent according to this
database – received some form of payment from industry," said lead
author Dr. Marie Leger, a dermatologist at Weill Cornell Medicine
and NewYork-Presbyterian in New York City. "That being said, most
dermatologists get a modest amount from industry."
It's difficult to know what these payments mean, but seeing how
money flows from industry to the dermatology profession is important
to understanding the relationship between those two groups, Leger
told Reuters Health.
She and her colleagues analyzed data from the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services Sunshine Act Open Payment database, which
records payments made to doctors from U.S. medical manufacturers and
group-purchasing organizations.
They found that in 2014, 8,333 dermatologists received 208,613
different payments totaling about $34 million. Those payments could
take a number of forms, including gifts, grants, education,
consulting and food and beverages.
That $34 million, however, represents less than 1 percent of the
roughly $6.5 billion paid to doctors in 2014, the researchers report
in JAMA Dermatology.
A quarter of dermatologists received less than $100, 63 percent
received less than $500 and 78 percent received less than $1,000.
The top 10 percent of doctors received at least $3,940, which
represented 90 percent of the total paid to dermatologists.
"I think we knew there were interactions, but we didn’t know how
many interactions there were," said lead author Dr. Hao Feng, of NYU
Langone Medical Center in New York City. "We were surprised that in
general it was a modest amount of money."
The top 1 percent of dermatologists received at least $93,622, which
accounted for 44 percent of the total.
About 81 percent of the compensation to the dermatologists came from
drug companies.
[to top of second column] |
Almost a third of payments were listed as speaking fees, about 22
percent were listed as consulting fees and about 17 percent were
listed as research payments.
Dr. Jack Resneck, of the University of California, San Francisco
School of Medicine, points out in an accompanying editorial that the
payment database is limited.
He wrote that it can be improved if providers are allowed to see
what payments industry submit and by the categories better
describing interactions.
"Some straightforward changes would substantially improve the
situation," he wrote.
Since the database is missing information about the context of these
payments, it's difficult to get a better understanding of the
interaction between industry and doctors, Feng told Reuters Health.
"That’s something that is really difficult – if not impossible - to
get from this database," said Feng.
For example, Leger wondered if the financial connection between
industry and dermatology may affect how the specialty advocates for
patients in terms of drug costs.
"I think this study maps points of contact in an important way and I
think there’s more to explore for what those points of contact
mean," she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2dIi6pj and http://bit.ly/2dIhQ9T JAMA
Dermatology, online October 5, 2016.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
