Do doctors get paid for prescribing a certain medication? - Page 2

Solidseifer · 01-21-2010, 06:58 AM

Yup, thats why they dont prescribe you the generics...You have to ask them to.

**Nostromo** · 01-21-2010, 07:06 AM

[QUOTE=bigfattony;35972158]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliforniaBJJ

I always had a hunch that they'd get some bonus from the company. . .[/QUO

Really? a hunch? Its common knowledge that md's that prescribe certain drugs get kickbacks, bonuses, free trips, etc for pushing a certain drug. Usually a pharmaceutical rep (a good salesperson.. and many times a smoking hot girl) will take a doctor, group of doctors out to lunch to explain what their company says are the benefits of prescribing the drug. A Pharmaceutical rep can make A LOT of money if they can persuade doctors to prescribe these drugs- Which is why a lot of uneducated, HOT, women are successful at it. The doctors do it because of the kickbacks and they get to go to lunch with a smoking hot babe that comes in once a month to keep pushing the shit. Its a business- the sooner people realize this, the sooner they will stop putting shit into their bodies the doctors tell them to.

Other than maybe an occational all expenses paid trip to some seminar to learn about a new drug from the pharmaceutical company, there are no bonuses or kickbacks going to doctors to persuade them to perscribe certain drugs. If you have any source to back up your assertion to the contrary than I would like to see it. That shouldn't be difficult since it's 'common knowledge'.

On the other hand there are some insurance companies that are paying physicians to switch patients to generic drugs (see link)

Doctors Paid To Switch Patients To Generic Drugs - Boston News Story - WCVB Boston

Solidseifer · 01-21-2010, 07:22 AM

[quote=Nostromo;35972588]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigfattony

Other than maybe an occational all expenses paid trip to some seminar to learn about a new drug from the pharmaceutical company, there are no bonuses or kickbacks going to doctors to persuade them to perscribe certain drugs. If you have any source to back up your assertion to the contrary than I would like to see it. That shouldn't be difficult since it's 'common knowledge'.

On the other hand there are some insurance companies that are paying physicians to switch patients to generic drugs (see link)

Doctors Paid To Switch Patients To Generic Drugs - Boston News Story - WCVB Boston

Seriously man? Google doctors and kickacks...you will get lots of results.

**Nostromo** · 01-21-2010, 07:30 AM

[QUOTE=Solidseifer;35972704]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nostromo

Seriously man? Google doctors and kickacks...you will get lots of results.

It's an illegal practice and the exception, not the rule.

Scruff Dog · 01-21-2010, 07:58 AM

i have some friends that are docs or finishing med school, and they say they are constantly courted by big pharma reps. if its illegal, they obviously dont give a shit. and yes, they have specifically said there is always money involved.

i imagine they are lawyered up to make it "legal" in some way or another

**DaRuckus337** · 01-21-2010, 09:10 AM

You people are conspiracy-chasing, no-nothing morons. It is illegal and simply does not happen often. Doctors in their private offices prescribe whatever they want without compensation from any drug manufacturer. Doctors in a hospital are sometimes limited by the hospital's contracts with a certain manufacturer, but again, are not compensated in any way for the drug they prescribe. And I call bullshit on scruffdog. The restrictions on contact with pharm reps are very strict these days (there are NO MORE TRIPS OR GIFTS BY LAW). There are local luncheons and dinners from time to time where somebody gives a little pitch or heads up on a new drug coming to market, but there is NO WAY for the pharm company to even track your prescription records, let alone influence your prescription practices via gifts/grifts/kickbacks. A few docs go to the dinners and luncheons to hear about the new drug, but most people (especially the students and residents) who attend them simply go for the food and talk amongst each other while some schmuck prattles on about the new med.

Honestly, who are you people answering this question with such an emphatic "yes" when you obviously do not work in health care or speak regularly with anyone who does? Seriously - what is it about the internet that makes people think they talk out of their ass with confidence and impunity? It's a remarkable phenomenon.

nontheanarch · 01-21-2010, 09:13 AM

yes

**Nostromo** · 01-21-2010, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaRuckus337

You people are conspiracy-chasing, no-nothing morons. It is illegal and simply does not happen. Doctors in their private offices prescribe whatever they want without compensation from any drug manufacturer. Doctors in a hospital are sometimes limited by the hospital's contracts with a certain manufacturer, but again, are not compensated in any way for the drug they prescribe. And I call bullshit on scruffdog. The restrictions on contact with pharm reps are very strict these days (there are NO MORE TRIPS OR GIFTS BY LAW). There are local luncheons and dinners from time to time where somebody gives a little pitch or heads up on a new drug coming to market, but there is NO WAY for the pharm company to even track your prescription records, let alone influence your prescription practices via gifts/grifts/kickbacks. A few docs go to the dinners and luncheons to hear about the new drug, but most people (especially the students and residents) who attend them simply go for the food and talk amongst each other while some schmuck prattles on about the new med.

Honestly, who are you people answering this question with such an emphatic "yes" when you obviously do not work in health care or speak regularly with anyone who does? Seriously - what is it about the internet that makes people think they talk out of their ass with confidence and impunity? It's a remarkable phenomenon.

Well said. You've got more patience then I do.

Scruff Dog · 01-21-2010, 09:41 AM

at least i make it clear that my information is second-hand.

i suppose i should add that im talking about the city of chicago. major health care city, not exactly a bastion of ethics.

also, im constantly amazed by peoples insistence that because something is illegal, it doesnt happen. maybe i just live in a weird part of the country, but breaking the law is hardly unusual here. chicago doctors are the guys that refine a fair number of the psychedelics in the area also, despite its illegality (no, they arent drug dealers).

from what ive been told doctors playing ball for big pharma is hardly the norm so im not trying to frame it that way. ive asked about it specifically though, and it sounds like some choose to do it, and others disaprove but mind their own business. no one has ever admitted to me that they personally got greased, just associates of theirs.

**DaRuckus337** · 01-21-2010, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scruff Dog

at least i make it clear that my information is second-hand.

i suppose i should add that im talking about the city of chicago. major health care city, not exactly a bastion of ethics.

also, im constantly amazed by peoples insistence that because something is illegal, it doesnt happen. maybe i just live in a weird part of the country, but breaking the law is hardly unusual here. chicago doctors are the guys that refine a fair number of the psychedelics in the area also, despite its illegality (no, they arent drug dealers).

from what ive been told doctors playing ball for big pharma is hardly the norm so im not trying to frame it that way. ive asked about it specifically though, and it sounds like some choose to do it, and others disaprove but mind their own business. no one has ever admitted to me that they personally got greased, just associates of theirs.

Of course some people choose to break the law. But it is a very small minority and is hardly the norm. In your original post, you deliberately try to make it sound wide-spread, which is an outright lie to try and push some kind of agenda (against people who may make decent money or hold some seat of perceived 'power' over you? I don't know, and I guess it's not all that important). You claim that pharm reps approach doctors "all the time", that there is "always money involved", and that "if it's illegal, doctors obviously don't care." How is that consistent with what you've actually been told, or with what is obviously true? If you really have friends in the medical profession, please link them to your post and see if they in any way agree with your characterization. It's false and deliberately misleading.

A free lunch or dinner every couple of weeks and some free samples of various drugs (often older ones which the companies have excess stock of) is pretty much the extent of pharm contact these days. Hell, at my institution, doctors can't even take free pens or notepads anymore. The free drug handouts, by the way, are by and large a very good thing. In most clinics, the free cheaper drugs are given away by doctors free of charge to patients (often patients without great insurance plans). They are usually antibiotics and older trademarked meds about to come off trademark. The new drug samples given to private offices usually collect dust on the shelf because most doctors are very reticent about prescribing drugs they have no experience with and for which limited data exists.