Snagged this from another site. Article is "Ties That Bind". Also, there a few more listed to the right you can click on. "Unselling Brand Name Drugs" was interesting, too. Pennsylvania and SC have hired their own 'drug reps' to go in and remind doctors of older and generic meds. Says they had to add a lunch budget to get any time with the doctors.....
http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/yourhealth/drug_rep_ties_that_b ind.html
Whether they know it or not, "many doctors have been prescribing according to industry profits rather than the patient's needs," says Brody of the University of Texas.
Duh!
And -
But Brody points to a national survey published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine, in which 94 percent of the doctors polled said they had "direct ties" to the drug industry. "So you can see the position we are starting from and how far we have to go."
And -
"I've had doctors say, 'I can't be bought with a slice of pizza,' " says Adriane Fugh-Berman, M.D., a Georgetown University associate professor who has studied industry tactics. "In fact, one drug industry study, for instance, showed that when a drug rep got one minute with a doctor, the doctor's prescriptions for that drug increased 16 percent. With three minutes—52 percent."
Well, my knickers are twisted again!
Pip
[QUOTE=Pip!]. "In fact, one drug industry study, for instance, showed that when a drug rep got one minute with a doctor, the doctor's prescriptions for that drug increased 16 percent. With three minutes—52 percent."
[/QUOTE]
I told hubby about the state-funded drug reps, and that they had to start buying lunches to get any time with the doctors. He was nonplussed, didn't think just lunchtime would make any difference - until I gave him those stats.
Anybody in PA or SC???? I wonder if your state provides contact info for these reps, since I guess they are paid with tax dollars. We need to find out if they call on rheums and what they focus on there.