MDs and consulting
January 12th, 2009
In the wake of increased professional, political and public attention the COI posed by physician consulting with the pharmaceutical companies, here’s a story about moves to facilitate disclosure: Doctors face pressure to disclose all side pay.
What remains unclear, however, is what this disclosure will actually accomplish. Will patients use the resulting information to change MDs? Unlikely, particularly in a context of managed care and difficulties accessing health care providers in a timely fashion.
But maybe disclosure will have a an impact on MDs behaviour, because of the blame and shame aspect of declaring that they’re taking money from the big pharmas…