The more money doctors receive from drug and medical device companies, the more brandname drugs they tend to prescribe...
Even a meal can make a difference.
Doctors have long disputed that the payments they receive from pharmaceutical companies have any relationship to how they prescribe drugs.
...doctors who receive payments from the medical industry do indeed tend to prescribe drugs differently than their colleagues who don't. And the more money they receive, on average, the more brandname medications they prescribe.
...Doctors who got money from drug and device makers—even just a meal—prescribed a higher percentage of brandname drugs overall than doctors who didn't...
Indeed, doctors who received industry payments were two to three times as likely to prescribe brandname drugs at exceptionally high rates as others in their specialty.
Doctors who received more than $5,000 from companies in 2014 typically had the highest brandname prescribing percentages.
...payments are associated with an approach to prescribing that, writ large, benefits drug companies' bottom line..."
https://www.propublica.org/article/doctors-who-take-company-cash-tend-to-prescribe-more-brand-name-drugs
