Vermont AG Probing Pharma and Physician Relationships

The Vermont attorney general is investigating the extent to which drug and device makers may have violated state law by giving gifts or payments for other items to health care providers, according to a source familiar with the matter. As some of our readers may recall, Vermont banned industry gift giving to health care providers over concerns that the payments influence the way physicians practice medicine and prescribe medications, a contentious issue that later led the federal government to create a database to which drug and device makers must report any payments to physicians and teaching hospitals. The Vermont law prohibits payments from industry to physicians in the form of food, entertainment, travel, or most anything of value – few exemptions exist. However, a check of the federal Open Payments database shows that in 2016, companies gave over $2,200 in gifts, provided roughly $173,400 in travel, and gave an estimated $54,400 in food and beverage. According to Merideth Chaudoir, an assistant attorney general, “Our office is unable to discuss or comment on whether or not there may or may not be an investigation. Generally, our policy is not to comment on whether or not there may or may not be an investigation such as a probe or other investigatory method. Our office gets thousands of complaints a year and, in order to protect the privacy of individuals and businesses, we do not disclose that information.” However, some of the reportings may have been done in ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs