Massachusetts publishes vendor payments to docs
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The report lists payments from July through December 2009 to physicians for consulting, speaking, participating in product training programs, grants, educational gifts, food and marketing studies, among others reasons. Payments made for clinical trials or genuine research are exempt from disclosure.
The top five paid cardiologists are:
- C. Michael Gibson, MD, (second overall) from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who received about $188,000 from six different companies for slightly more than 100 events;
- Mark E. Josephson, MD, (sixth) from Beth Israel, who received about $144,000 from four companies for 23 events;
- Randall M. Zusman, MD, (11th) from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), who was paid about $114,000 from eight companies for 100 events;
- David N. Gomolin, MD, (19th) from New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, who received about $98,000 from five companies for 48 events; and
- Laurence M. Epstein, MD, (45th) from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who received about $61,000 from six companies for 45 events.
Manufacturers are required to disclose certain transactions (any fee, payment, subsidy or other economic benefit with a value of at least $50) with anyone who prescribes, dispenses or purchases prescription drugs or medical devices.
It is important to note that a listing on this database does not infer any wrongdoing on the part of the physician or healthcare provider.
According to the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturer Code of Conduct, the database is supposed to help patients understand physician-industry relationships.
One can get more granular and learn that Gibson, for example, received compensation from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Daiichi Sankyo, Eli Lilly, Ortho-Mcneil, Schering and The Medicines Company; or that Zusman's benefactors also included Bristol-Myers Squibb, Daiichi Sankyo and Eli Lilly, as well Forest Labs, Novartis, Pfizer, Philips Health and Sanofi-Aventis; or that Epstein's compensation came from Spectranetics, St. Jude Medical, GE Healthcare and Pfizer.
Total compensation paid to facilities include $1.2 million to the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester from vendors such as Abbott Laboratories, The Medicines Company and Mircus Endovascular; $500,000 to Beth Israel, from Abbott, Boston Scientific and Medtronic, among others; and $84,000 to Brigham and Women's Hospital from Biosense Webster and Zoll Medical, among others.
Boston Scientific topped the list of manufacturers, paying out approximately $2.5 million for 379 events to 129 recipients ($2 million was a charitable donation to Boston Healthcare Homeless Program). Others in descending order include Eli Lilly ($1.7 million, 1,224 events, 259 recipients), The Medicines Company ($1.2 million, 55 events, 17 recipients), Medtronic ($800,000, 697 events, 260 recipients), Bristol-Myers Squibb ($700,000, 551 events, 114 recipients) and Boehringer Ingelheim ($600,000, 57 events, 50 recipients), among others.
Massachusetts General Hospital topped the acute care hospital category, receiving $3.8 million, followed by Brigham and Women's ($923,000), Beth Israel ($687,000), Tufts Medical Center ($386,000) and UMass Memorial ($238,000) rounding out the top five.
The spreadsheet is available here.
Specific reports prepared by the Office of Health and Human Services are available here.