As we noted last month, the Massachusetts State Assembly voted overwhelmingly 128-22 to repeal the Massachusetts Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturer Code of Conduct (PCOC). Consequently, an article from the Boston Globe covered the developments of this story and several comments were submitted in response.
One commentator worried that if the gift ban is repealed, “the prescription-buying public will end up eating the cost in more ways than one.” The problem with this comment is that no evidence exists to suggest that the gift ban has saved Massachusetts taxpayers any money. As such, there is no evidence to show that the gift ban has actually served or fulfilled the purpose it was enacted for.
Another commentator correctly pointed out that the “marketing ban is not about “lobster and chardonnay’’ or restaurateurs and hoteliers,” but rather the mistrust of health care professionals.
Accordingly, the commentator, a psychiatric nurse practitioner who cares for patients in a small private practice, asserted that the industry-sponsored events she has attended are “about continuing education and gathering with area colleagues to share clinical information and wisdom in an informal, non-clinical setting.”
She further asserted that the “dinner programs provided valuable safety information and education on the states of disease that the medications are intended to treat.” Consequently, because of the gift ban, she noted that. “these learning opportunities have declined significantly.”
Moreover, she noted here “deep resentment at suggestions that health care providers make treatment decisions based upon a free meal.” She noted that health care providers “recognize marketing, whether from a pharmaceutical company promoting its medicine or an insurer promoting a generic.”
These health care providers prescribe medications, “regardless of whether they are generic or brand-name, on the basis of many factors, including co-existing medical conditions, the patient’s medical history, and past medication trials.”
The provision that would repeal the gift ban is still being considered in the state’s budget bill. We will provide updates as soon as they are available.