Department of Operations and Business Technology Management, Chaifetz School of Business, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
Department of Information Systems and Technology Management, School of Business, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., United States of America.
PLoS One. 2024 Aug 13;19(8):e0306886. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306886. eCollection 2024.
Enacted in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (PPSA) mandates transparency in financial interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers. This study investigates the PPSA's effectiveness and its impact on industry payments to physicians. Utilizing ProPublica and Open Payments databases, a difference-in-difference analysis was conducted across ten states. Results reveal a significant reduction in pharmaceutical companies' meal-related payments post-PPSA, impacting both the total payment amount and the number of unique physicians reached. Conversely, travel payments showed no significant impact in the primary analysis. However, subsequent analyses revealed nuanced reductions in the number of unique physicians reached, highlighting a more intricate relationship wherein pharmaceutical companies likely adjusted their financial interaction strategies with physicians differently across states. State-level variations in meals further underscore the complexity of PPSA's influence. This pioneering research contributes valuable empirical evidence, addressing gaps in prior studies and emphasizing the ongoing need for policy assessment to guide industry-physician relationships.
作为平价医疗法案的一部分，于 2010 年颁布的医师薪酬阳光法案（Physician Payments Sunshine Act，PPSA）要求制药公司和医疗保健提供者之间的财务往来透明化。本研究调查了 PPSA 的有效性及其对行业向医生支付款项的影响。本研究利用 ProPublica 和 Open Payments 数据库，在十个州进行了差异分析。结果显示，PPSA 之后制药公司与医生的餐饮相关支付显著减少，这影响了总支付金额和涉及的医生数量。相比之下，旅行支付在主要分析中没有显著影响。然而，随后的分析显示，涉及的医生数量减少存在细微差别，这表明制药公司可能根据各州的情况，以不同的方式调整了与医生的财务互动策略，关系更为复杂。各州之间餐饮方面的差异进一步凸显了 PPSA 影响的复杂性。这项开创性的研究提供了有价值的经验证据，填补了先前研究的空白，并强调了需要进行政策评估，以指导行业与医生的关系。
