Association between payments by pharmaceutical manufacturers and prescribing behavior in Rheumatology

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Mayo Clin Proc
• Personal Author:
  Duarte-García, Alí ; Crowson, Cynthia S. ; McCoy, Rozalina G. ; Herrin, Jeph ; Lam, Veronica ; Putman, Michael S. ; Ross, Joseph S. ; Matteson, Eric L. ; Shah, Nilay D.
• Description:
  Objective:
  
  To evaluate the association between pharmaceutical industry payments to rheumatologists and their prescribing behaviors.
  
  Methods:
  
  Cross-sectional analysis of Medicare Part B Public Use File (PUF), Medicare Part D PUF, and Open Payments data for 2013–2015. Prescription drugs responsible for 80% of the total Medicare pharmaceutical expenditures in rheumatology were analyzed. We calculated the mean annual drug cost per beneficiary per year, the percentage of rheumatologists who received payments, and the median annual payment per physician per drug per year. Industry payments were categorized as food/beverage and consulting/compensation. Multivariable regression models were used to assess associations between industry payments and both prescribing patterns and prescription drug expenditures.
  
  Results:
  
  Out of 4,822 rheumatologists in the Medicare prescribing databases, 3,729 received any payment from a pharmaceutical company over this timeframe. Food/beverage payments were associated with an increased proportion of prescriptions for the related drugs (range 1.5–4.5%) and an increased proportion of annual Medicare spending for the related drugs (range 3–23%). For every $100 in food/beverage payments, the probability of prescribing increased (range 1.5–14% for most drugs) and Medicare reimbursements increased (range 6–44% for most drugs). Consulting/compensation payments were associated with an increased proportion of prescriptions (range 1.2–1.6%) and increased proportion of annual Medicare spending (range 1–2%). For every $1000 in consulting/compensation payments, both the probability of prescribing increased (5% or less for most drugs) and Medicare reimbursements increased (less than 10% for most drugs).
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Payments to rheumatologists by pharmaceutical companies are associated with increased probability of prescribing and Medicare spending.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Article Conflict Of Interest Cross-Sectional Studies Drug Costs Drug Industry Humans Industry Medicare Part D Payments Practice Patterns, Physicians' Prescription Drugs Retrospective Studies Rheumatology United States

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• Source:
  Mayo Clin Proc. 97(2):250-260
• Pubmed ID:
  35120693
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC9013005
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  R01 HL131535/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; K23 DK114497/DK/NIDDK NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 HL144644/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R03 DK110497/DK/NIDDK NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01DP006491/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/ ; U01 FD005938/FD/FDA HHSUnited States/ ; U19 HS024075/HS/AHRQ HHSUnited States/ ; U01 DP006491/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHSUnited States/ ; R01 HS025164/HS/AHRQ HHSUnited States/ ; R01 HS025402/HS/AHRQ HHSUnited States/ ; P30 DK111024/DK/NIDDK NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R03 HS025517/HS/AHRQ HHSUnited States/ ; R01 HS022882/HS/AHRQ HHSUnited States/ ; R56 HL130496/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  97
• Issue:
  2
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:ad4a00ae1c0346a1257c40a883c60a7637fdb13a2825e099cb51e8864f24b331
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/116482/cdc_116482_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 102.61 KB ]