Physician Payment Disclosure Under Health Care Reform
Physician Payment Disclosure Under Health Care Reform
With the expansion of health care insurance coverage through the ACA, prescription drug expenditures are likely to continue to increase. Yet one of the primary goals of the ACA is containing the costs of prescription drugs and more efficient delivery of health care. The ACA's Sunshine provisions aim to meet these goals by shedding light on physician-industry relationships and hopefully influencing prescribing and purchasing behavior through discouraging COIs. However, a changing landscape shifting industry-marketing dollars away from physicians and increasingly directing them toward payers and patients could blunt the potential beneficial effect. Federal and state policy makers should proactively reassess industry marketing and transparency and redirect their focus on regulating industry marketing practices so they are consistent with cost efficiency, medical ethics, and patient safety purposes.
Conclusion
With the expansion of health care insurance coverage through the ACA, prescription drug expenditures are likely to continue to increase. Yet one of the primary goals of the ACA is containing the costs of prescription drugs and more efficient delivery of health care. The ACA's Sunshine provisions aim to meet these goals by shedding light on physician-industry relationships and hopefully influencing prescribing and purchasing behavior through discouraging COIs. However, a changing landscape shifting industry-marketing dollars away from physicians and increasingly directing them toward payers and patients could blunt the potential beneficial effect. Federal and state policy makers should proactively reassess industry marketing and transparency and redirect their focus on regulating industry marketing practices so they are consistent with cost efficiency, medical ethics, and patient safety purposes.
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