Below is Alston & Bird’s Health Care Week in Review, which provides a synopsis of the latest news in healthcare regulations, notices, and guidance; federal legislation and congressional.
Dive Brief:
Medical device companies spent more money in non-research payments to physicians between 2014 and 2017 than drug companies, an analysis published Monday in the journal Health Affairs found. The payments covered services like royalties, consulting and speaking fees, as well as travel and food. Neurosurgery, orthopaedics and cardiology were among the surgical specialists most targeted by medtechs.
Payments from medical device companies totaled $3.6 billion, or $904 million per year during the period. Meanwhile, payments from drug companies totaled $3.3 billion, or $821 million per year. While totals were somewhat similar, medtech payments went to about 135,000 fewer physicians than the pharmaceutical industry, making medical device payments to individual physicians larger.
taxpayer subsidy irrespective of their income or wealth. on physician payments we re not slashing. it has given an adverse opinion on the medicare trustees reports saying their assumptions were unreasonable, unsustainable. jonathan as david walker is talking in the background music in my mind is playing simpson-bowtes over which nothing happened. you speak a lot of truth and a lot of fiscal truth but what is the appetite here in washington to do, to make all of these hard choices? i would argue and i think we ve all argued there s no appetite whatsoever to do any of the thing that are necessary to not only get health care for the people who want it and need it, but also to pull us out of this