RxP director discusses Sunshine Act at Wall Street Journal Health blog

03/29/2010

The Wall Street Journal Health Blog talked to Pew Prescription Project Director Allan Coukell about the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which was passed into law with the health care reform bill last week. Here's an excerpt:

What is the significance of the act? Why was it needed?

There has been tremendous concern over the extent of the financial links between doctors and drug companies, and the potential of those ties to influence care that patients need. Until now, there was no way for the patients or the public of knowing how extensive those relationships are. This, for the first time, will make those relationships transparent.

Is this measure enough to curb conflicts between doctors and industry?

[This measure] is about transparency. I think we will be watching and I’m sure policy makers will be watching to see how things evolve. We will have more information than we ever had before and we’ll have some sense of whether more steps need to be taken.

There has also been concern over payments to other health-care providers, such as nurse practitioners, as well as between companies and disease advocacy groups.

(You can read the whole interview here.)