According to the article, "State proposes rules for gifts to physicians," by M.McAuliffe, The Republican, (December 11th, 2008), Massachusetts wants to hold two public hearings across the state for feedback on proposed legislation to regulate gifts and research practices that physicians receive from pharmaceutical companies. Advocates want gifts to be banned as well as making public knowledge of physicians getting paid for drug research from these companies.
I support this legislation for the following reasons:
1) I agree with the advocates that doctors can be heavily influenced by pharmaceutical salesmen to inappropriately prescribe medications for their clients' symptoms.
For example, I attended one luncheon with one salesman from a drug company that manufactures antidepressants. Normally, I refuse to attend these "bribery meetings," because I don't support the way these drug companies push their medications on physicians. I went for curiosity purposes and to observe this process. While the lunch was good, the salesman's presentation was another story.
The representative educated the physician and the clinicians on how this particular antidepressant works on individuals who have a specific type of anxiety disorder. Charts demonstrated through the company's research studies showed that individuals who took this medication showed a decline in their anxiety symptoms. The last step the salesman did, in which I call the hook, was to try to "push" the physician to prescribe this medication for his clients. His tone and voice went up a notch higher when he asked the physician if and when he would start prescribing this medication to his clients. After careful consideration, the physician kindly thanked him for the information and said he had to get back to work. The physician left the room, and the salesman provided free pens, drug samples, and literature on this medication to his staff.
My observations made me think how physicians can be easily influenced by the "sweet talking" salespeople and the expensive gifts they can provide such as free trips and monetary incentives to support their drugs. Also, I have observed how some of these salespeople will "pester" physicians through on-going telephone calls and numerous visits to their offices to do their presentations. Some will even offer expensive dinners to get the physician to hear their spiels.
It is amazing how much money is spent on heavy advertising and marketing of drugs to physicians as well as through other mediums such as magazines and radio ads. Wouldn't money be better spent on lowering the costs of medications so those individuals can afford to pay for their medications? I would like to see future legislation to make the benefits manager-the negotiator-of drug prices between drug companies and health insurance plans to be a non-profit entity and not a lucrative for-profit enterprise. Also, the public needs to be aware that one of the reasons health insurance plans push mail order prescriptions is due to the benefits manager making a profit from it.
The Department of Public Health will holding a public hearing in Worcester on January 13th. Time and location is unknown. Please contact them for more information at http://www.mass.gov/.
As mental health counselors, what do you think of physicians such as psychiatrists not being allowed to accept gifts and to make public their income made for doing research for these drug companies? Do you think these "bribes" hurt our clients?
Robbin Miller, LMHC
Citizen-Therapist
Facilitator
