The 50 Doctors in Worcester That Received the Most Drug Company Money

Tuesday, July 07, 2015

Patrick Sargent, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

More than 1,100 doctors in Worcester received money from drug companies between August 2013 and December 2014.

Payments to doctors in Worcester ranged from as low as $45 to as high as $1.01 million.

SEE SLIDES BELOW: #50 to #1: Doctors in Worcester That Received the Most Drug Company Money

The 50 highest paid doctors in the city were paid a combined $1.94 million from drug companies.

According to data compiled by non-profit, media watchdog group, ProPublica, doctors in Massachusetts were paid a combined $170 million by drug companies for promoting their drugs and devices. In the United States, payments to doctors in the Commonwealth rank fifth highest among all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and U.S. military forces across the globe.

The state with the highest earners was California with $806 million in payments to doctors, followed by New York ($312 million), Texas ($243 million), and Florida ($188 million).

Everyone is Cashing In

As required in the “Sunshine” provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is required to publish “transparency reports” that disclose these industry payments of drug companies to doctors. CMS has strict restrictions against drug company payments to physicians and requirements for strict reporting. Violations of reporting requirements vary and would include up to a $1 million fine.

In their report for ProPublica, titled A Pharma Payment A Day Keeps Docs’ Finances Okay, Charles Ornstein and Ryann Grochowski Jones write, “That doctors receive big money from the pharmaceutical industry is no surprise. The new data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows that such interactions are widespread, with not only doctors, but thousands of dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors receiving at least one industry payment from August 2013 to December 2014."

Ornstein and Grochowski Jones add, "What is being seen for the first time now is how ingrained pharmaceutical companies and their sales reps are in the lives of those who write prescriptions for their products. A ProPublica analysis found that 768 doctors received payments on more than half of the days in 2014. More than 14,600 doctors received payments on at least 100 days in 2014.”

The data breaks down payments made by drug companies, the doctors that received those payments and what the payments were for.

Doctor Defends Partnership with Drug Companies

Dr. Charles Birbira, who received more than $15,000 in payments from drug companies between August 2013 and December 2014, told GoLocalWorcester, “We help advance the science of medicine. Without the clinical trials that we do, no new medications would come to the marketplace. We make sure medications work properly."

According to Dr. Birbara, he and his team helped bring the drug Humira (a rheumatoid arthritis drug) to the marketplace along with other medications to treat pain and osteoporosis. “Pharmaceutical companies have new medications and they want to see if these medications have side effects before they get to the market. Our work is reviewed by the FDA. I have played a major role in bringing some major drugs to the marketplace."

In Massachusetts, more money was spent on doctors that used a company’s device rather than from drugs. More money went to doctors that utilized devices for hip, orthopedics and knees than for any drug. Payments to doctors for these three devices accounted for $62 million.

Belviq, a weight-loss pill, and Revlimid, which treats myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). and cancer, including multiple myeloma (plasma cell cancer) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), earned doctors nearly $10 million in payments combined.

GoLocalWorcester has taken the same data that ProPublica used and narrowed it down to the 50 doctors in Worcester that received the most money from drug companies.

The 50 Doctors in Worcester That Received the Most Drug Company Money

SEE SLIDES BELOW: #50 to #1: Doctors in Worcester That Received the Most Drug Company Money

Everyone is Cashing In

Doctor Defends Partnership with Drug Companies

Related Slideshow: #50 to #1: Doctors in Worcester That Received the Most Money from Drug Companies

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