Physician Payments Sunshine Act

The Physician Payments Sunshine Act (S.301), introduced by Senators Kohl (D-WI) and Grassley (R-IA), would bring much needed transparency to the financial relationships that exist between drug and medical device companies and the medical profession by requiring all pharmaceutical, medical device, biotech companies and their subsidiaries to disclose all payments to physicians after reaching a $100 aggregate into a public online database.

Physicians write more than two billion prescriptions a year, an average of seven for every American. To capture these sales, the pharmaceutical industry spent $20.4 billion in marketing during 2007. Expenditures directed at physicians totaled $7.2 billion in 2005 (excluding pharmaceutical samples). An undisclosed portion of that budget is spent on direct payments to physicians in the form of gifts, food, continuing medical education, travel, and consultancy fees.

While pharmaceuticals and medical devices play a critical role in patient care, undisclosed gifts such as consulting payments, speaking fees, classes, and meals can inappropriately influence medical decisions and create conflicts of interest. Increased transparency of gifts and financial relationships will allow the government and the public to make informed decisions about prescription drug and medical device use.

Numerous reports have demonstrated that aggressive marketing tactics can exert undue influence on prescribing. Drug companies alone spend at least $25 billion per year marketing to doctors. Not only is this a huge driver of drug costs, but published evidence clearly shows that marketing spending shifts doctors toward higher cost and sometimes less-safe drugs.

TAKE ACTION! Download the TEMPLATE letter and SEND to Senator Menendez asking him to support the Physician Payment Sunshine Act.

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updated October 21, 2009