Interesting Links of the Day

A free lunch may be all it takes to persuade a doctor to prescribe a brand-name drug instead of a cheaper generic, a new study suggests. Doctors who were treated to a single meal, where drug companies present information about their medications, were 18 percent more likely to prescribe Crestor, a brand-name cholesterol-lowering medicine.The more meals doctors had, the more likely they were to prescribe the promoted drug. 

The author questioned whether this is best practice in educating our medical field.

“Why is this our system of education for doctors?” he asked. “The cost of an alternative system of drug education would be paltry.”

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/06/20/drug-company-lunches-have-big-payoffs/?

There are lucrative jobs out there, pitching and selling to doctors. You might find yourself sitting and waiting for your doctor, while they receive their sales pitch. You might benefit from it by receiving free samples from your doctor, or by getting the most current treatment available. Like anything in life, you have to weigh the good with the bad. Ask questions about your medications, read about what is prescribed. Are there viable alternatives, generics? Does a name brand offer you any additional benefits?

There is also a very interesting website that can tell you how much your doctor has received in dollars and services.

Dollars for Docs

How Industry Dollars Reach Your Doctors

https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/

It doesn't mean that your provider is a bad doctor, it is just the facts, and how the system works. This website also shows the drugs that were pitched to your doctor. My doc is on the list. He has had some free meals. Does it make him a bad doctor? I don't necessarily think so.