Open Payments data published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has revealed that healthcare industry manufacturers paid a total of USD7.52 billion to doctors and teaching hospitals in 2015.
Implications | The total payments of USD7.52 billion in 2015 represented only a slight increase on the total of USD7.49 billion paid in 2014. |
Outlook | The CMS observed that there had been a "notable shift towards charitable contributions and away from other interactions such as honoraria and gifts". This observation should help offset some of the criticism that has recently been meted out to drug companies in relation to the gifts that they issue. |
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the total spend of USD7.52 billion was comprised of USD2.60 billion in general (i.e. non-research related) payments; USD3.89 billion in research payments; and USD1.03 billion towards ownership or investment interests held by doctors or their immediate families. The CMS figures are derived from a total of 11.90 million records attributable to 618,931 doctors, 1,116 teaching hospitals, and 1,456 companies. The CMS noted that, in 2015, 2.26% (i.e. 637,131 records) of all financial transactions between doctors and pharmaceutical companies were related to opioid medications.
The Open Payments programme – also known as the "Sunshine Act" – requires that payments made to doctors and teaching hospitals by manufacturers of drugs, medical devices, and other medical supplies are published on a public website. The 2015 programme represents the second full year of data that are available, with total payments in 2014 having amounted to USD7.49 billion according to updated data available on the CMS website (see here).
Among notable statistics included in the searchable database, Reuters reported that the companies that made the highest payments in 2015 included US giants, Pfizer, Merck & Co, and Amgen: Pfizer made general payments of USD44.7 million and research payments of USD391.7 million; Merck made general payments of USD34.4 million and research payments USD128 million; and Amgen made general payments of USD31.4 million and research payments of USD222.2 million.
Outlook and implications
The Open Payments programme was created by President Obama's Affordable Care Act in order to improve transparency, after it had come to light that several leading medical schools had failed to disclose large payments from pharmaceutical companies. An analysis of Open Payments data published by ProPublica early last year had shown that drug companies were spending millions of dollars promoting predominately "me-too" products to doctors and teaching hospitals (see United States: 20 January 2015: Analysis of CMS's Open Payments data suggests "me-too" drugs are heavily promoted in US).
More recently, a report published in JAMA Internal Medicine, which also drew on data from the Open Payments database, revealed that doctors who receive free meals from sponsors of branded drugs are "significantly" more likely to prescribe these brands instead of their generic equivalents (see United States: 28 June 2016: US study finds doctors given free meals more likely to prescribe sponsored drugs).
However, commenting on the latest data, the CMS's director of the Center for Program Integrity, Dr Shantanu Agrawal, said that "transparency is empowering physicians to be purposeful about their financial relationships with companies, and there is a notable shift towards charitable contributions and away from other interactions such as honoraria and gifts".