A small for-profit hospital on the outskirts of Memphis has the
highest rate of doctors who took payments from the pharmaceutical
and medical device industry, out of more than 2,000 hospitals across
the nation.
Federal disclosures show 59 out of 62 doctors at Saint Francis
Hospital in Bartlett, Tenn. -- or 95 percent -- received payments
for speaking engagements, meals, gifts, travel, consulting or other
interactions with the industry in 2014, the most recent year for
which information was available.
While there's nothing illegal about taking such compensation,
doctors with financial ties to pharmaceutical and device companies
are more likely to prescribe expensive brand-name medications than
those without relationships, studies have found. Even doctors who
received just one meal from an industry representative prescribed a
higher proportion of brand names, according to a study published
this month in JAMA Internal Medicine.
"I think there has absolutely been this idea or fear from the
consumer perspective that part of the reason physicians prescribe
certain drugs is because of payments made by pharmaceutical
manufacturers," said Deborah Farringer, assistant professor of law
at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville.
Limiting that influence was one
See hospitals, 15A
goal of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's revised conflict
of interest policies, which in 2014 yielded the lowest share of
doctors taking industry payments statewide.
Still, interaction between the industry and clinicians remains
necessary for innovation as well as understanding the effects of
treatments, experts said. Hospital administrators should develop
policies that improve care while keeping physicians unbiased in
their prescribing habits, Farringer said.
Two doctors receiving payments at the 196-bed Saint Francis
Hospital-Bartlett said paid meals, travel and other industry
compensation do not influence medical decisions.
Dr. Kashif Latif, an endocrinologist, had 235 payments in 2014
that totaled $14,132, the second-highest among doctors who see
patients at the hospital. Latif said drug company representatives
provide food for his staff when they visit him during lunch hours,
the only time he can squeeze in meetings. The lunches "don't sway
anything that we do," he said.
Under the Sunshine Act, which mandates financial disclosures as
part of the Affordable Care Act, pharmaceutical and medical device
companies report their payments to physicians. Doctors then have a
chance to dispute the records. The data is available on public
websites such as Dollars for Docs, a project by the nonprofit
investigative news organization ProPublica.
Another doctor at Saint Francis, Dr. John S. Gardner, a
cardiologist, questioned the accuracy of the data reported by the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. He planned to dispute a
roughly $10,000 grant listed under his name from Boston Scientific
Corp.
Saint Francis administrators had no comment, other than a
statement expressing support of the Sunshine Act. With the financial
disclosure, they said, patients "can discuss that information
directly with their physician."
less influence?
Some hospitals have restricted industry interactions -- from
receiving free trips and frequent flier miles to using company
tchotchkes such as branded pens and notepads. Requirements are more
stringent for academic medical institutions and other hospitals that
take federal grant money from agencies including the National
Institutes of Health. …