Capitol Hill Watch | Four Medical Device Companies Made $800M in Illegitimate Payments to Physicians Over Four Years, HHS OIG Official Says - Kaisernetwork.org

Capitol Hill Watch Four Medical Device Companies Made $800M in Illegitimate Payments to Physicians Over Four Years, HHS OIG Official Says - Kaisernetwork.org:

"Four companies that manufacture artificial hips and knees paid physicians more than $800 million in royalties and fees over four years to influence them to use their products, Gregory Demske, assistant inspector general of legal Affairs at the HHS Office of Inspector General said during a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on Wednesday, Bloomberg/Washington Post reports (Goldstein, Bloomberg/Washington Post, 2/28).

Demske said, 'Although most physicians believe that free lunches, subsidized trips or gifts have no effect on their medical judgment, the research has shown that these types of perquisites can affect, often unconsciously, how humans act' (Cooley, CQ HealthBeat, 2/27). He added that illegitimate payments to physicians have led to increased use of lower-quality medical devices."

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