The Open Payments database details payments from companies to 683,000 doctors.
WASHINGTON -Drug and medical device companies paid nearly $10 billion to doctors and teaching hospitals since August 2013 to conduct research, travel and speak at conferences, among other things, according to government data released by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as part of the Affordable Care Act.
In 2014, more than 600,000 doctors and more than 1,100 teaching hospitals shared in the $6.49 billion, paid by more than 1,400 companies. About half of the money was spent on research. The rest went to such things as speaking fees, gifts and travel.
In 2013, data was available for Aug. 1 to Dec. 31. During that time period, more than 1,300 companies paid $3.43 billion to 470,000 physicians and 1,019 teaching hospitals. Research payments accounted for slightly less than half of that sum.
At $388 million, Genentech made the most payments since August 2013, more than four times as much as the next company, DePuy Synthes Products LLC.
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, makers of drugs and medical devices are required to divulge all financial transactions to individual physicians and teaching hospitals; 2014 was the first full year that data was collected.
The American Medical Association said in a statement that it strongly agreed with the importance of transparency, but it also criticized the program’s implementation.
“Unfortunately, the CMS’ Open Payments program has to date been plagued by significant shortcomings that call into question the accuracy of information published, including an overly complex registration process and inadequate opportunity for physicians to review their individual data,” the AMA said.
The Open Payments database allows people to search for information on individual doctors, doctors by specialty and how much money each company spends.
Users can search for information on their individual doctors, how much money was funneled to the states, and types of payments at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/.
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