ProPublica this week updated its “Dollars for Docs” tool, which shows payments that doctors have received from pharmaceutical and medical device companies for activities such as promotional talks and consulting.
The independent, non-profit journalism site updated its interactive database with billions of dollars in payments made last year to physicians and U.S teaching hospitals, according to a ProPublica article.
Along with adding an additional year of data that includes payments made from August 2013 through December 2016, the site added some new features to make it easier for patients to see how much a physician receives from pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
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Patients can search to see if their doctor is on the list of 810,716 physicians who received drug or device company money. Pharmaceutical and medical device companies are required by the Physician Payment Sunshine Act to release details of their payments to a variety of doctors and U.S. teaching hospitals.
“Two full years of the data gives us the chance to compare year over year. Although spending by companies stayed constant, the numbers are nevertheless huge. Companies made about $2 billion in general payments to 618,000 physicians each year, in addition to another $600 million a year to teaching hospitals,” ProPublica said.
General payments to doctors cover promotional speaking, consulting, meals, travel, gifts and royalties, but not research. Many top doctors, who have earned millions of dollars, received royalties or other payment based on sales of products that use a physician’s intellectual property, for instance, from working with a device manufacturer to inventing a new product.
That’s the case for Roger Jackson, M.D., the highest-earning doctor on the list. The orthopedic surgeon, who earned $54.1 million, is the holder of patents for a variety of surgical instruments and devices, including a surgery table named after him designed specifically for orthopedic patients.
It’s still unclear how the Sunshine Act has influenced providers’ willingness to accept payments or change prescribing practices. However, a study earlier this year showed physicians who received a free meal from a drug maker have an increased rate of prescribing the brand-name medication that the company is promoting.