Bill Curbing Drug Makers’ Gifts to Docs Stalls in Connecticut
Thursday March 6th, 2008
Jacob Goldstein
Wall Street Journal Health Blog
Connecticut’s Attorney General has been pushing bills that would put tighter rules on financial ties between doctors and the drug industry. But the idea isn’t making much headway in the state legislature, irking the editorial page of the Hartford Courant. The paper called on lawmakers to get cracking and “pass legislation to force disclosure and limitations on drug company gratuities to physicians,” saying that state “residents’ health might depend on it.”
Last year, AG Richard Blumenthal proposed a bill that would have required pharmaceutical companies to publicly disclose gifts and other incentives given to docs and other health care providers. It died in committee.
This year, Blumenthal proposed a bill that would have banned gifts for a physician’s personal use. (It would have allowed drug rep trinkets such as note pads as well as as free samples of prescription drugs used by patients.) The bill would also have required companies paying doctors to serve as consultants to document how the doctor was selected and prove a legitimate need for the service. The bill has been a non-starter at the state house, according to the Courant.
Similar bills are percolating elsewhere. Earlier this week, a top legislator in Massachusetts proposed a ban on drug industry gifts to docs. Massachusetts and Vermont already have laws requiring disclosure of industry gifts. And Congress is mulling a bill that would force drug and device makers to disclose gifts to doctors nationwide.
|
Members’ Stories
Medical error can have devastating effects. Here, in their own words, Connecticut families tell the stories of how medical error changed their lives forever.
David Parian
Unfortunately when I had a tooth extracted, I was not given an antibiotic and got an infection. My wife kept calling my doctor who said it was just the flu. Days passed and I kept getting sicker and sicker and I kept being told I had the flu ... more
To Our Members
March 2008
Within the next two years, we can anticipate changes in the delivery of health
care in our state. Several health authorities have been established by the
Governor, the Speaker of the House, Jim Amman and the President of the Senate,
Don Williams. These newly constituted authorities are to propose recommendations
that would lead CT to universal health coverage.. ... more
|
