The Slippery Slope of Pharma Physician Phreebies

Most physicians do not seem to know that "there is no such thing as a free lunch." Medscape's 2012 Ethics Report survey, for example, revealed that 72% of 23,710 physician respondents answered "Yes" to the question "Do you feel that you could be unbiased with prescribing habits if you accept lunches from pharmaceutical representatives?" (see here).But, according to other researchers, such thinking is a "slippery slope" on which "Physicians fail to recognize their vulnerability to commercial influences due to self-serving bias, rationalization, and cognitive dissonance" (see "Physicians Under Pharma's Influence: Are Physicians Powerless Pawns of Pharma Psychology?").While the general public is concerned about the cost of insurance under the Affordable Care Act, physicians are concerned about the Physician Payment Sunshine provision of the law, which requires pharma companies to report many kinds of payments to physicians, including the value of "free lunches." That information will be made public in 2014.Leana Wen, M.D., author of "Who's My Doctor? The Total Transparency Manifesto," summed up physicians' attitude regarding the sunshine provision this way: Read more ยป
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Gifts to Physicians Source Type: blogs