Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15308
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Publication type: news
Roche WF.
UPMC to stop reps' delivery of drug samples
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 2009 Mar 20
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_616956.html
Full text:
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center next month will start enforcing a ban on the delivery of samples by drug company representatives to doctors’ offices in its 20 hospitals.
The April 1 ban, announced a year ago, does not prohibit distributing samples and vouchers to patients. It ends regular sales and delivery visits by pharmaceutical reps.
The policy is meant to eliminate perceived or actual conflicts of interest between UPMC providers and drug companies. UPMC banned gifts and meals to hospital personnel by health care companies more than a year ago.
“There is a concern that personal relationships can influence decision-making,” said Dr. Barbara E. Barnes, associate vice chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh.
A computerized system run by a private firm, MedManage Systems, will replace sales reps’ visits. It allows doctors to order samples that would be shipped to physicians’ offices.
UPMC officials declined to say how many physicians signed up for the computer system, or how many drug companies registered and agreed to pay unspecified fees.
“It’s up to them to sign up,” said Kelley Wasicek, who heads the program for UPMC.
Late last month, only a dozen UPMC physicians had signed up, along with a few drug manufacturers providing about 30 prescription drugs, records show.
Hospital officials initially considered an outright ban on samples. Physicians intervened with concerns that would hurt patients with little or no health insurance.
Physicians said samples give them the flexibility to have patients try drugs for effectiveness.
UPMC officials noted some studies showing most of those who received drug samples were middle-class patients with insurance coverage. A 2006 study found physicians who distributed drug samples were more likely to prescribe new and higher-cost drugs.
Ken Johnson, vice present of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, criticized the UPMC policy, saying it deprives physicians of the opportunity to learn the benefits and side effects of drugs. He said the association tightened its ethics code, barring sales staff from taking doctors to meals or giving promotional materials.
Barnes said the policy does not prevent drug companies from providing information about products to physicians.
MedManage has run similar supply programs directly for drug companies.
“This is the first time we have done a hospital,” said Thomas Quinn, vice president of Bethel, Wash.-based MedManage. He said other hospital systems have shown “a considerable amount of interest.”
West Penn Allegheny Health System is developing a vendor-interaction policy for its six hospitals that would include a standardized drug-sample system, said spokesman Dan Laurent.
Walter F. Roche Jr. can be reached at wroche@tribweb.com or 412-320-7894.
