A pharmaceutical “Gift Ban” bill is working its way through the Vermont Legislature, passing the Senate and now hearings in the House.
Today the Vermont Attorney General released their payment disclosure report (July 2007 – June 2008) for all the healthcare providers and hospitals in the state. The report shows that the proposed gift ban law is really more about intimidation than reality and should be titled the “Much ado about nothing bill”
· According to the FY08 disclosures, 78 pharmaceutical manufacturers reported spending $2,935,248 in Vermont on fees, travel expenses, and other direct payments to Vermont physicians, hospitals, universities and others for the purpose of marketing their products.
· There were 115 pharmaceutical manufacturers who filed disclosures in FY08, with 37 of these manufacturers reporting no expenditures.
· From FY04 through FY08, there has been an increase of over 40% in the number of manufacturers who have reported marketing expenditures, and a decrease of nearly 30% in the amount of expenditures.
This is a very small amount given that payments to physicians including food of $860,000, was $2,188,000 there are 2,778 physicians in the state of Vermont. The payment on physicians was comes to roughly $800/year and the report also includes grants to hospitals, universities, and other types of providers. The average physician earns between $131,000 and $200,000 depending on their location, so to think that somehow this is polluting the physicians of the state of Vermont is obsured.
The Top 5 companies include:
· Eli Lilly and Company
· Pfizer, Inc.
· Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
· Merck & Co., Inc., and
· Forest Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Eli Lilly because of their extensive payment collection systems is probably the reason they report the most.
Overall the report is a lot of detail about very little money. If the state thinks that the states Medicare and Medicaid funds will be saved by banning gifts, they are going to come up with a very small number especially given that most of the payments were for consulting and education.
Perhaps Vermont will wake up and stop this crusade against Pharma. Vermont is merely a test case for Massachusetts. Let’s hope by this time next year when the first Massachusetts reports come out that they will be less about trying to make something out of nothing. I am willing to bet that with labor added in cost to comply with the requirements and the cost for the state to gather all these statistics is greater than the combined total given as payments/food to healthcare providers.
Vermont: 2009 Payment Disclosure Report
State Policy: Minnesota and Iowa Pharmaceutical “Gift” Bans Retreat, Vermont Advances
State Policy: Vermont Physician Gift Ban – Time to Leave the Maple Farm