[Ip-health] NEJM: A National Survey of Physician–Industry Relationships

[Ira Glazer]

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/356/17/1742?query=TOC

ABSTRACT

Background Relationships between physicians and pharmaceutical, medical
device, and other medically related industries have received
considerable attention in recent years. We surveyed physicians to
collect information about their financial associations with industry and
the factors that predict those associations.

Methods We conducted a national survey of 3167 physicians in six
specialties (anesthesiology, cardiology, family practice, general
surgery, internal medicine, and pediatrics) in late 2003 and early 2004.
The raw response rate for this probability sample was 52%, and the
weighted response rate was 58%.

Results Most physicians (94%) reported some type of relationship with
the pharmaceutical industry, and most of these relationships involved
receiving food in the workplace (83%) or receiving drug samples (78%).
More than one third of the respondents (35%) received reimbursement for
costs associated with professional meetings or continuing medical
education, and more than one quarter (28%) received payments for
consulting, giving lectures, or enrolling patients in trials.
Cardiologists were more than twice as likely as family practitioners to
receive payments. Family practitioners met more frequently with industry
representatives than did physicians in other specialties, and physicians
in solo, two-person, or group practices met more frequently with
industry representatives than did physicians practicing in hospitals and
clinics.

Conclusions The results of this national survey indicate that
relationships between physicians and industry are common and underscore
the variation among such relationships according to specialty, practice
type, and professional activities.