The Sunshine Act finally became law when Congress passed healthcare reform legislation just a few months ago. The Sunshine Act is a mandate that, in theory, is supposed to require corporations to make the consulting contracts and gifts they disburse public. But I question whether the mandate really has any teeth? Who is policing the industry and who is going to hold companies accountable for not playing by the rules? We will have to see if the Justice Department enforces these new regulations.
A recent article I read explains this troubling issue very well. The article is titled, “The Medical-Industrial Complex.”
We cannot allow doctors to receive kickbacks, bribes or favors in return for using medical products or devices. It is not only unethical, it is unfair to patients and often compromises care.
Here is just one example as noted in the article:
Age-related back problems that were once commonly treated by simply cutting out small pieces of bone or fusing just two vertebrae together are increasingly treated by fusing several vertebrae together from multiple sides. The newer methods are more costly to Medicare, risk more dangerous complications, and yield no better results, as a major study reported in April. But these more complex procedures--which translate into higher reimbursements for surgeons and equipment-makers - are rising in popularity.
In many cases, surgeries are being performed even when arguably no intervention at all is warranted.
Industry-salaried training (meaning training doctors how to use the product or device) promotes treatments designed to earn the sponsoring companies the most money - not necessarily the treatments that are in fact the most important or beneficial. So far, however, professional organizations have given the issue little attention.
There have been some doctors who have spoken out against this practice. There have been some healthcare systems that have issued their own policies prohibiting the behavior too. But ideally the device industry, and organizations representing its members, will do more to make sure ethical standards exist and equally important, that the rules are followed.
Kester Freeman blogs regularly at Action for Better Healthcare.