Research by ProPublica, a recipient of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, finds a direct correlation between drug-company payments and doctors’ name-brand prescribing. Using data from its Dollars for Docs project, ProPublica has tracked drug company payments to doctors since 2010. It has found that doctors who receive more money from pharmaceutical and medical device companies prescribe a higher percentage of brand-name drugs than doctors who receive lower payments. The analysis describes the advantages physicians acquire when recommending brand-name drugs to their patients, such as the opportunity to be selected as a consultant for the company. While some doctors and health professionals claim that brand-name drugs are better than generics, studies cited in the analysis show that there is not much of a difference between the two—only the cost and extent of advertising.
