Thursday, May 22, 2008

Full disclosure is coming

Everyone seems to be supporting a new bill backed by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.) that will require companies to disclose payments to doctors who received $500 or more from a single company over the course of a year, starting in 2011. More on this in Jacob Goldstein's WSJ blog.

This is a good law, but why wait till 2011? What Doctors Think performed an online physician survey of over 100 orthopedists and general surgeons in February 2008, and asked them “Should medical companies publicly disclose their consulting agreements with physicians, and specifically indicate what payments or inducements they give to physicians?” (See question #12).
Not surprisingly, 78% of doctors answered YES to this question. Doctors and medical companies should have nothing to hide regarding their business deals. Our healthcare market research confirms that.
Robert Cykiert, M.D.
President, WhatDoctorsThink.com
DoctorNet.com