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, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
With 40% of opioid-related deaths still coming from prescription opioids, understanding how marketing influences prescriber habits could lead to the creation of specific policies to lower the number of prescription drugs exchanging hands and save lives.
Dr. Hadland and his colleagues conducted a comparative analysis of opioid prescriptions from 2014 and 2015, retrieved from the Medicare Part D Opioid Prescriber Summary File and cross referenced that information with all recorded transactions from companies to physicians in 2014 from the Open Payments database.
In 2015, a total of 369,139 physicians were recorded prescribing opioids to Medicare patients. About 25,767 (7%) received a combined total of 105,368 “nonresearch opioid-related payments” with a sum total of $9,071,976 in 2014.
While Medicare opioid claims went down in 2015, physicians who received these payments, on average, prescribed 9.3% more opioids than those who did not, according to investigators.
INSYS Therapeutics, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals were the three highest-paying companies, contributing $4.5 million, $869,155, and $854,251, respectively.
Payments included speaking fees ($6.2 million), meals ($1.8 million), travel ($730,824), consulting fees ($290,395), and education ($79,660). Investigators estimated that, with each meal a physician received, there was an associated 0.7% increase in opioid claims.
Dr. Hadland and fellow investigators do acknowledge the possibility of reverse causality, with physicians who already prescribe more opioids being more likely to receive industry payments.
Dr. Hadland and his team report no relevant financial disclosures.
SOURCE: S Hadland et al. JAMA Intern Med. 2018 May 14. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.1999.
, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
With 40% of opioid-related deaths still coming from prescription opioids, understanding how marketing influences prescriber habits could lead to the creation of specific policies to lower the number of prescription drugs exchanging hands and save lives.
Dr. Hadland and his colleagues conducted a comparative analysis of opioid prescriptions from 2014 and 2015, retrieved from the Medicare Part D Opioid Prescriber Summary File and cross referenced that information with all recorded transactions from companies to physicians in 2014 from the Open Payments database.
In 2015, a total of 369,139 physicians were recorded prescribing opioids to Medicare patients. About 25,767 (7%) received a combined total of 105,368 “nonresearch opioid-related payments” with a sum total of $9,071,976 in 2014.
While Medicare opioid claims went down in 2015, physicians who received these payments, on average, prescribed 9.3% more opioids than those who did not, according to investigators.
INSYS Therapeutics, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals were the three highest-paying companies, contributing $4.5 million, $869,155, and $854,251, respectively.
Payments included speaking fees ($6.2 million), meals ($1.8 million), travel ($730,824), consulting fees ($290,395), and education ($79,660). Investigators estimated that, with each meal a physician received, there was an associated 0.7% increase in opioid claims.
Dr. Hadland and fellow investigators do acknowledge the possibility of reverse causality, with physicians who already prescribe more opioids being more likely to receive industry payments.
Dr. Hadland and his team report no relevant financial disclosures.
SOURCE: S Hadland et al. JAMA Intern Med. 2018 May 14. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.1999.
, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
With 40% of opioid-related deaths still coming from prescription opioids, understanding how marketing influences prescriber habits could lead to the creation of specific policies to lower the number of prescription drugs exchanging hands and save lives.
Dr. Hadland and his colleagues conducted a comparative analysis of opioid prescriptions from 2014 and 2015, retrieved from the Medicare Part D Opioid Prescriber Summary File and cross referenced that information with all recorded transactions from companies to physicians in 2014 from the Open Payments database.
In 2015, a total of 369,139 physicians were recorded prescribing opioids to Medicare patients. About 25,767 (7%) received a combined total of 105,368 “nonresearch opioid-related payments” with a sum total of $9,071,976 in 2014.
While Medicare opioid claims went down in 2015, physicians who received these payments, on average, prescribed 9.3% more opioids than those who did not, according to investigators.
INSYS Therapeutics, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals were the three highest-paying companies, contributing $4.5 million, $869,155, and $854,251, respectively.
Payments included speaking fees ($6.2 million), meals ($1.8 million), travel ($730,824), consulting fees ($290,395), and education ($79,660). Investigators estimated that, with each meal a physician received, there was an associated 0.7% increase in opioid claims.
Dr. Hadland and fellow investigators do acknowledge the possibility of reverse causality, with physicians who already prescribe more opioids being more likely to receive industry payments.
Dr. Hadland and his team report no relevant financial disclosures.
SOURCE: S Hadland et al. JAMA Intern Med. 2018 May 14. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.1999.
FROM JAMA INTERNAL MEDICINE
Key clinical point: Doctors who received nonresearch payments on average had a higher number of opioid prescriptions than those who did not.
Major finding: Receiving a nonresearch payment from a pharmaceutical company was associated with about 9.3% more opioid claims.
Study details: Record analysis of 369,139 physicians collected from the Open Payments database and the Medicare Part D Opioid Prescriber Summary File for the years 2014 and 2015.
Disclosures: Dr. Hadland and his team report no relevant financial disclosures.
Source: S Hadland et al. JAMA Intern Med. 2018 May 14. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.1999.