Has Your Doctor Received Drug Company Money?

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My last three PCP are listed from lowest/oldest to highest/current:

2 payments totaling $40 (This doctor didn't Rx anything before checking all medical info.)

4 payments totaling $60 (This doctor didn't push any Rx to hard.)

145 payments totaling $2,000 (Not surprising because this DR has been the boss at several locations.)

While my last three neurologists are also listed lowest/oldest to highest/current:

28 payments totaling $5,700 (I'm surprised this is so low. This DR was in charge at E center, and is at several others currently.)

59 payments totaling $25,600 (I'm not surprised, I thought it would be higher. This DR was a bit Rx pushy.)

73 payments totaling $26,225 (I was thinking this DR would have been half as much.)

What I am proud not to see, my Neurosurgeon or gastrointestinal surgeon names. To me that means that they want to help people. These DRs doesn't need to cash in, pushing Rx or devices. :)
 
A lot of the smaller sums are related to conferences or recertification lectures that docs are required to attend fairly frequently. The drug companies sponsor a lot of those, so if they pay for meals it will show up on the doc's record. The longer you've been a doctor, the more of those events you've attended, so some of those totals could be cumulative over many years.

But the big money going to certain docs can be red flags, and it's worth taking a closer look at their prescribing history.
 
My neurologist got about $1,900. Only drug I recognized on the list is Vimpat. She wants me off Trileptal and on either Kepra or Vimpat, though she did say the vimpat will likely be much more pricey so would advise me to try the kepra first. Most of the money is $2 - $11 meal payments.

Checked my GP and a couple of the cholesterol meds she's been pushing me to take were on the list as was Synthroid. She insisted I switch from the Armour to synthroid because she didn't know how to prescribe the armour. I got a kick out of the list Hillary Clinton takes, and she's on armour. I thought maybe I could tell my dr. she has a smarter physician than I do. I think she got $1600 or so.

I think the list isn't very up to date, though. It makes me uncomfortable to see this going on.
 
Because your Physician gets money from a drug company does not necessarily make them a crook or mean your medical treatment is being shorted. I once lived in North Georgia. I took my mother to see her physician whom was also my physician. I know for a fact this physician as well as the managing partner in the practice are given things like vacations etc from one of the drug reps. However because my mother and I both were using 4 dollar scripts at walmart at the time I forced my physician to not write expensive scripts for expensive drugs. It is like anything else, knowledge is power. Physician whips out that script pad or starts to place the script in the computer to be printed ask them why that drug and be prepared to stand your ground. Almost every drug class out there has cheaper options. I am not just talking about generics either.
 
Here is a simple question.........

When all those Docs attend a biggie seminar who exactly funds it? Is the information presented neutrally??
 
Honestly most of the time when a Physician attends most mandatory training (or seminar as you call it) it is run by the medical Groups they are a part of. The drug companies might pay for the trip and may have a booth at the facility but they generally don't run the event. I am not saying the drug reps are not having major influence on Physicians prescribing habits. Because it most surely does. I am saying two things. One in a lot of cases the drugs being pushed are good and effective. Two YOU as the patient has be part of the treatment and have a say in it. It is (in my opinion) dangerous and a bit stupid not to. This means doing your research and forcing the physicians hand on their prescriptions for you. ANY physician even that rare one that don't accept drug rep money that acts like a dictator should send you to the door and never return. Hopefully I got my point across.
 
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I think DR's prescribing habits are influenced more by what companies are in their stock portfolio than by what company buys them lunch.
 
Is there a Canadian page like that?
I'd love to know what the Canadian doctors are getting & from whom.
 
I looked up my doctor on here (The US site), and it only has a record for 2013-2014. Is it possible it just hasn't been updated?
 
I guess I better be more truthful about my true intent in this thread. I dated the daughter of a GP for almost 3 years back in the early 90s. I never really got along with the man but I did respect him. When we got on this topic he would always laugh and say things like yep he is in their pockets. Outside of investments in his case mostly in Oil stocks and mutual funds he really did not take money from them, however he took as many drug samples as they would give him and actually asked for more. When a drug like Zocor costs 3 or 4 bucks a pill if a doc can get you a sample pack of 5 or 10 that is as much as $40 saved. The relationship between doctors and the drug companies is VERY incestuous, always has been and most likely always will be.
 
My doctor is pretty bad. He is a neuro doctor and his #1 take in 2016 was for Eliquis. He took over $38k in those 3 years. Will this list be updated?
 
I think it does get updated from time to time, but there's a bit of lag while the data is examined.
 
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