A non-profit investigative journalism organization, Pro Publica, has identified 719 Missouri doctors who have taken more than 7.7-million dollars from seven pharmaceutical companies. Pro Publica says more than 70 other drug companies have not disclosed similar payments. They are required under the new federal healthcare reform law require companies to publicize the data.
There is nothing illegal about the payments and the receipt of them does not mean the person receiving the funds has done anything wrong. . A spokesman for Pro Publica says it’s releasing the information to prompt discussion between patients and their doctors about whether the medications being prescribed are the best medications to use.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the program is Washington University anesthesiology professor Anthony Guarino, who is listed as getting more than 255-thousand dollars in the last 18 months to speak to other doctors about the products of three companies. Guarino has told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he lets his patients know about his relationships with the companies and says he mostly prescribes generics despite those relationships.
The information is available on the Pro Publica website under the “Dollars for Docs” database:
http://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/states/missouri
The site lists amounts paid and the purposes of the payments.
Most of the doctors listed are in the St. Louis area. But a quick run through the list turns up high payments to some outstate doctors:
Joplin: Christopher Andrew, four payments $67,882.
Steven Kory, four payments $155,745
Kansas City: Mark Box three payments $77,249
Deborah Manning, two payments 104,435
James O’Keefe, three payments $186,150
Excelsior Springs: James LaSalle, three payments $166,380
Springfield: Debra Brown, three payments $90,969
Gregory Lux, three payments $29,950
Bolivar: Greg Zolkowski,three payments $64,707
Jefferson City: Mark Vandewalker, three payments 43,701
Poplar Bluff: Dennis Daniels, three payments $84,885
Columbia: James Fairlamb, three payments, $42,900
David Gardner, four payments $49,399
Pro Publica also provides a list of which doctors received payments from each of the seven companies. The seven companies and the amounts given Missouri doctors are:
Eli Lilly $3,635,532
Glaxo Smith Klein 2,111,295
Pfizer $660,966
AstraZeneca $614,930
Cephalon $330,380
Merck $193,295
J&J $165,039
The comprehensive list is found at Pro Publica’s website. Readers might have to add up payments for totals.