Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Not just disclosing payments, but making them public

The New York Times reported today that the Vermont legislature has passed a bill that requires pharmaceutical companies to make public how much money is paid to doctors and to whom. This legislation goes beyond other state measures restricting what pharmaceutical companies can pay to physicians to require complete disclose of all payments made to individual physicians. The law also bans nearly all gifts, including free meals, to physicians, nurses and health systems. The idea is that making the information public will give patients information about a physician's potential financial interests.

What do you think of this kind of information? Is it useful to patients?

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