ENDING THE DOCTOR GRAVY TRAIN
Read more: Ending the doctor gravy train | Bankrate.com http://www.bankrate.com/financing/insurance/ending-the-doctor-gravy-train/#ixzz1m0UOpbD3
By Jay MacDonald · Bankrate.com
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Posted: 10 am ET
Read more: Ending the doctor gravy train | Bankrate.com http://www.bankrate.com/financing/insurance/ending-the-doctor-gravy-train/#ixzz1m0UOpbD3
Before you swallow that new drug prescribed by your doctor, wouldn't you like to know whether the drug's manufacturer recently treated your physician to an all-expenses-paid golf junket to Pebble Beach or Hilton Head to extol its miracle properties?
The pills-for-perks dance is commonplace in modern medicine, where based on appearances alone, one might easily conclude that the tail is wagging the dog.
According to an analysis by The New York Times, about 1 in 4 doctors take cash directly from drug companies or medical device makers and 2 out of 3 take free food for themselves and their staff. And it works: according to the Times, those who ride the gravy train are more willing to prescribe drugs in unapproved or potentially risky ways.
Is your doctor prescribing the drug because he or she truly believes it's the best course of treatment for you? Or is it because Maui's Royal Kaanapali is the course they've always dreamed of playing?
Soon, you won't have to wonder. Healthcare reform architects are about to shine a spotlight into this ethical back alley by requiring all drug companies and makers of medical devices covered by Medicare or Medicaid to disclose all gifts or payments they make to doctors.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, every financial expenditure, from golf junkets to coffee and donuts for the doctor's office, will be posted by the federal government on a public website.
The bipartisan reform, sponsored by Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa and Herb Kohl, D-Wis., was one of numerous consumer protections included in the Affordable Care Act.
Will public disclosure of the longstanding pills-for-perks practice end it? Hardly. The pharmaceutical industry isn't about to abandon one of its most cost-effective income-generating strategies, even if some doctors may beg off lest it cost them prestige and/or patients.
But at least it will finally give health insurance customers the opportunity to shop for a doctor who is not a frequent passenger on the pharmaceutical gravy train.
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Read more: Ending the doctor gravy train | Bankrate.com http://www.bankrate.com/financing/insurance/ending-the-doctor-gravy-train/#ixzz1ldnpnjw0
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from Irene:
Once a medical doctor tried to SELL me a surgical procedure I didn't need but I was less enlightened then and, beside, he was a friend of my own internist who is a great man whose kindness knows no bounds. And it was he who gave me the referral to this guy.
While I was waiting for the procedure to be scheduled, I got a funny feeling...call it woman's intuition when a magazine came in about the value of hormone therapy. Since I have been a holistic counselor for decades, I didn't appreciate this type of mail invading my mail box. I called the pharmaceutical company and asked how THEY got my name since I did not request any info. They said, apparently, I filled out a form in the above doctor's office.
While I was waiting for the procedure to be scheduled, I got a funny feeling...call it woman's intuition when a magazine came in about the value of hormone therapy. Since I have been a holistic counselor for decades, I didn't appreciate this type of mail invading my mail box. I called the pharmaceutical company and asked how THEY got my name since I did not request any info. They said, apparently, I filled out a form in the above doctor's office.
Guess what...I didn't and when I received a copy of the form, I saw that my signature had been forged.
I canceled the surgery immediately feeling that any doctor who might sell my name and address (a violation of my confidentiality) just might sell me a procedure I did not need.
When I called the doctor and confronted him about this matter and asked him if he knew who had breached my confidentiality, he said he had found out who it was.
I stated, "I trust she will be fired?"
He responded with, "No, she's a very valued employee."
My response, "So you condone the violation of doctor - patient confidentiality."
He wishes me well and hung up. I reported this to the medical society and nothing was done as medical societies protect doctors...not patients.
A few months later, the Wall Street Journal, through did some investigative journalism and found that the drug company had been fined close to a million dollars for incidents like the one above because they paid doctors and their employees off with lunches, golf outings, etc. to give the company names, etc of those patients who the company could market their products to.
THINK ABOUT IT!
Most physicians are highly dedicated people geared towards helping us achieve the best possible health. And I know quite a few of them who are the best people I know; I am deeply grateful for their intelligence, humanity, compassion and assistance in making my life better and making Paradise Costs a reality. However, like everything else, it takes one bad apple...please use caution, please ask for help, please be safe
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