The physician/drug manufacturer relationship has largely been tainted in the past due to some drug companies going overboard by throwing huge expensive parties, sending doctors on vacations, etc. and all in the name of trying to sell a drug.
It was a problem that had gotten out of hand in the State of Massachusetts; therefore in 2008, restrictions were made to prohibit a company from wining and dining a doctor.
But, according to Boston.com Drug and medical device makers once again can treat Massachusetts doctors to meals and drinks in restaurants, under new regulations that weaken the state’s strict ban on gifts to health care providers.
The change drew strong criticism from the state’s major consumer advocacy group, but was applauded by the pharmaceutical industry’s national trade organization.
In July, Governor Deval Patrick signed a state budget that scaled back restrictions imposed in 2008 and allowed companies to pay for modest meals and refreshments for doctors as part of informational sessions about their products. Patrick and the Legislature left it up to public health officials to define modest. The state Public Health Council approved the new regulations in September.
Health officials did not establish a dollar limit. Instead, they decided that meals must be modest by local standards and “similar to what a provider may pay’’ for a meal when eating out, said Iyah Romm, director of policy, health planning, and strategic development for the Department of Public Health.
Romm said that is similar to rules adopted by the American Medical Association, the drug industry trade group PhRMA, and the Advanced Medical Technology Association.
Health Care for All, a consumer group based in Boston, called it a significant change that will increase health care costs, because money that companies spend on meals and alcohol gets rolled into the price of pharmaceutical products and devices. Food and drink is also used to attract physicians to sessions where companies promote expensive brand-name drugs, the group said.
“There are no holds barred on wining and dining again,” said the group’s executive director, Amy Whitcomb Slemmer. “Allowing these meals and interactions gets in the way of the doctor-patient relationship and affects prescribing behavior.’’
She said the organization would work to reverse the change.
One Public Health Council member, Dr. Alan Woodward, said he wants the final rules to make clear that lunch and dinner sessions have “valid education content’’ and “that this not be an open door for marketing.”
Patrick has maintained that the more permissive regulations are a “narrow change” that would facilitate efforts by companies to educate health care providers about new drugs and medical devices.
Marjorie Powell, senior assistant general counsel for PhRMA, said the Massachusetts law was placing unnecessary restrictions on the industry as it tries to work with health care providers.
“While physicians have a lot of sources of information, one important source is companies who are researching and bringing to market new medicines. They are tracking new uses and adverse events. To be able to tell doctors about that and other prescribers is important.’’
But Dr. Elizabeth Wiley, president of the American Medical Student Association, said the health department defined “‘modest meals’’ so vaguely that the state’s gift ban is now effectively unenforceable.
“As a leader in health care and medicine, it is disappointing that Massachusetts has given into the pressure from the pharmaceutical and medical device industries,’’ she said in a written statement. “This is a huge step backward in our effort to overhaul the health care system.”