Report: Financial Ties Between Device Makers, Teaching Hospitals
One of the authors said, “Normalizing marketing as a source of information on new drugs and devices risks teaching trainees to count on an information source that has a vested financial interest in their prescribing decisions."
Stat:
Drug And Device Makers Paid Teaching Hospitals $832 Million In 2018
Amid ongoing concern that drug and device makers may influence medical practice and research, a new analysis suggests the issue also extends to teaching hospitals, which received a total of $832 million in payments for various activities and arrangements other than research in 2018. Of 1,281 teaching hospitals, 91% received money from industry for continuing education, royalties, consulting and speaking fees, space rentals, gifts, and food, among other things. In all, nearly 47,000 payments were made and most were related to specific products, although one-fifth of the hospitals received more than 90% of the $832 million. (Silverman, 9/8)
In other health industry news —
Houston Chronicle:
Houston Employees Are Signing Up For PPOs, High-Deductible Plans, New Study Finds
Employees prefer health insurance plans that give them greater choice of doctors and specialists even if employees must pay more, according to a study released Tuesday by the Houston Business Coalition on Health. The coalition, an association of employers purchasing health plans, found that employees, particularly older workers, are more likely to pick preferred provider organization, or PPO plans, where they can see out-of-network providers at a higher cost and aren’t required to keep a primary care physician. (Wu, 9/9)
Stat:
Dan Trigub, Head Of Uber Health, Is Leaving To Launch A Health Care Startup
Dan Trigub, who for the last two years has led Uber Health, is leaving the ride-sharing giant to start his own health care company, he wrote in an email to his contacts, the text of which was shared with STAT. His last day with the company is Tuesday. (Brodwin, 9/8)
Modern Healthcare:
Judge Tosses Data-Sharing Lawsuit Against UChicago, Google
UChicago Medicine agreed to share de-identified patient records with Google in 2017 to explore whether electronic health information could be used with machine learning to reduce readmissions and predict future medical events. A former University of Chicago Medical Center patient—Matt Dinerstein—sued Google, UChicago Medicine, and the University of Chicago last year, claiming they violated his privacy rights when the hospital shared time stamps for service dates, medical notes and other possibly identifiable information with the tech giant. He asked the court to grant the suit class action status. (Brady, 9/8)
