Just another incentive for doctors to get out of the profession
Doctors who accept speaking fees, five-star meals and other compensation from pharmaceutical or medical device companies will soon see their names -– and the value of the gifts they accept -– revealed on the Web, under a new federal law that follows several states in drawing attention to such financial benefits.
The Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires companies to begin recording any physician payments that are worth more than $10 in 2012 and to report them on March 31, 2013. That includes stock options, research grants, knickknacks, consulting fees and travel to medical conferences at chi-chi hotels. The details will be posted in a searchable database starting Sept. 30, 2013.
On one hand, I can understand this. Are some physicians pushing medicines for deals with pharmaceutical companies, a little bit of scratch my back you scratch mine?
On the other hand, consider how much the elected officials scream and nash their teeth when asked to do the same thing, ie, publicize all their dealings with lobbyists. Heck, Obama still has refused to open up and tell us who all those small donors were, what with all the kerfuffle over the foreign donations, multiple names, names of famous people, such as Mickey Mouse. What about Obama hiding an $800,000 payment to ACORN? In other words, elected officials want to expose everyone else’s private business, but, do not want to expose the business of the government.
Also, by what right does the federal government have to do this to private citizens?
