Dataset Information

The Impact Of Academic Medical Center Policies Restricting Direct-To-Physician Marketing On Opioid Prescribing.

ABSTRACT: Direct-to-physician opioid marketing by pharmaceutical companies is widespread and may contribute to opioid overprescribing, an important driver of the US opioid crisis. Using a difference-in-differences approach and Medicare Part D prescriber data, we examined the effects of academic medical centers' conflict-of-interest policies that restrict direct-to-physician marketing of all drugs on opioid prescribing by physicians at eighty-five centers in the period 2013-16. We examined restrictions on gifts and meals, speaking and consulting engagements, and industry representatives' access to academic medical centers, as well as rules requiring conflict-of-interest disclosures. Bans on sales representatives were associated with a 4.7 percent reduction in the total volume of opioids prescribed and disclosure requirements with a 2.5 percent reduction, while having all four marketing restriction policies was associated with an 8.8 percent reduction. Policies that restrict direct-to-physician pharmaceutical marketing may curb opioid prescribing, but additional patient-level research is needed to understand how such policies affect the delivery of evidence-based treatment for chronic pain.

SUBMITTER: Eisenberg MD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7876632 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

The Impact Of Academic Medical Center Policies Restricting Direct-To-Physician Marketing On Opioid Prescribing.

Eisenberg Matthew D MD Stone Elizabeth M EM Pittell Harlan H McGinty Emma E EE

Health affairs (Project Hope) 20200601 6

Direct-to-physician opioid marketing by pharmaceutical companies is widespread and may contribute to opioid overprescribing, an important driver of the US opioid crisis. Using a difference-in-differences approach and Medicare Part D prescriber data, we examined the effects of academic medical centers' conflict-of-interest policies that restrict direct-to-physician marketing of all drugs on opioid prescribing by physicians at eighty-five centers in the period 2013-16. We examined restrictions on ...[more]

PMID: 32479218

Similar Datasets

Project description:ImportanceIn an effort to regulate physician conflicts of interest, some US academic medical centers (AMCs) enacted policies restricting pharmaceutical representative sales visits to physicians (known as detailing) between 2006 and 2012. Little is known about the effect of these policies on physician prescribing.ObjectiveTo analyze the association between detailing policies enacted at AMCs and physician prescribing of actively detailed and not detailed drugs.Design, setting, and participantsThe study used a difference-in-differences multivariable regression analysis to compare changes in prescribing by physicians before and after implementation of detailing policies at AMCs in 5 states (California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York) that made up the intervention group with changes in prescribing by a matched control group of similar physicians not subject to a detailing policy.ExposuresAcademic medical center implementation of policies regulating pharmaceutical salesperson visits to attending physicians.Main outcomes and measuresThe monthly within-drug class market share of prescriptions written by an individual physician for detailed and nondetailed drugs in 8 drug classes (lipid-lowering drugs, gastroesophageal reflux disease drugs, diabetes drugs, antihypertensive drugs, hypnotic drugs approved for the treatment of insomnia [sleep aids], attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder drugs, antidepressant drugs, and antipsychotic drugs) comparing the 10- to 36-month period before implementation of the detailing policies with the 12- to 36-month period after implementation, depending on data availability.ResultsThe analysis included 16 121 483 prescriptions written between January 2006 and June 2012 by 2126 attending physicians at the 19 intervention group AMCs and by 24 593 matched control group physicians. The sample mean market share at the physician-drug-month level for detailed and nondetailed drugs prior to enactment of policies was 19.3% and 14.2%, respectively. Exposure to an AMC detailing policy was associated with a decrease in the market share of detailed drugs of 1.67 percentage points (95% CI, -2.18 to -1.18 percentage points; P < .001) and an increase in the market share of nondetailed drugs of 0.84 percentage points (95% CI, 0.54 to 1.14 percentage points; P < .001). Associations were statistically significant for 6 of 8 study drug classes for detailed drugs (lipid-lowering drugs, gastroesophageal reflux disease drugs, antihypertensive drugs, sleep aids, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder drugs, and antidepressant drugs) and for 9 of the 19 AMCs that implemented policies. Eleven of the 19 AMCs regulated salesperson gifts to physicians, restricted salesperson access to facilities, and incorporated explicit enforcement mechanisms. For 8 of these 11 AMCs, there was a significant change in prescribing. In contrast, there was a significant change at only 1 of 8 AMCs that did not enact policies in all 3 areas.Conclusions and relevanceImplementation of policies at AMCs that restricted pharmaceutical detailing between 2006 and 2012 was associated with modest but significant reductions in prescribing of detailed drugs across 6 of 8 major drug classes; however, changes were not seen in all of the AMCs that enacted policies.

Project description:BackgroundPhysician engagement has become a key metric for healthcare leadership and is associated with better healthcare outcomes. However, engagement tends to be low and difficult to measure and improve. This study sought to efficiently characterize the professional cultural dynamics between physicians and administrators at an academic hospital and how those dynamics affect physician engagement.Materials and methodsA qualitative mixed methods analysis was completed in 6 weeks, consisting of a preliminary analysis of the hospital system's history that was used to purposefully recruit 20 physicians across specialties and 20 healthcare administrators across management levels for semi-structured interviews and observation. Participation rates of 77% (20/26) and 83% (20/24) were achieved for physicians and administrators, respectively. Cohorts consisted of equal numbers of men and women with experience ranging from 1 to 35 years within the organization. Field notes and transcripts were systematically analyzed using an iterative inductive-deductive approach. Emergent themes were presented and discussed with approximately 400 physicians and administrators within the organization to assess validity and which results were most meaningful.Results & discussionThis investigation indicated a professional cultural disconnect was undermining efforts to improve physician engagement. This disconnect was further complicated by a minority (10%) not believing an issue existed and conflicting connotations not readily perceived by participants who often offered similar solutions. Physicians and administrators felt these results accurately reflected their realities and used this information as a common language to plan targeted interventions to improve physician engagement. Limitations of the study included its cross-sectional nature with a modest sample size at a single institution.ConclusionsA qualitative mixed methods analysis efficiently identified professional cultural barriers within an academic hospital to serve as an institution-specific guide to improving physician engagement.

Project description:BackgroundPain is one of the most common symptoms encountered in the healthcare system, and opioids are among the top three medications used to treat it. Understanding the reasoning behind physicians' opioid prescribing practices is vital to safe practice. The primary objective of our study was to describe pediatric emergency physicians' decision-making process when prescribing opioids for children's acute pain management.MethodsThis study employed qualitative methodology, using one-on-one semi-structured interviews within a grounded theory analytic framework. We employed purposeful sampling to recruit pediatric emergency physicians from across Canada. Interviews were conducted by telephone (December 2019-January 2021). Transcript analysis occurred concurrently with data collection, supporting data saturation and theory development considerations.ResultsEleven interviews were completed with participants representing each of Canada's geographic regions. Nine major themes emerged: (1) practice setting and outpatient opioid use, (2) condition-specific considerations, (3) physician confidence in medical evidence, (4) pain assessment challenges, (5) patient and family perspectives, (6) opioid safety concerns, (7) personal biases and experiences, (8) personal practice context, and (9) the Opioid Crisis/media influence. Most clinicians felt that they limited opioid use to those who needed it most; all participants described challenges managing acute pain, emphasizing the need for accurate pain measurement and better guidelines, evidence-based data, and knowledge translation. Clinicians were more comfortable treating pain in the emergency department, compared to discharge prescribing. They recognized the importance of co-therapy with non-opioids and the need for opioid risk assessment when prescribing. A family centered approach was recognized as the goal of practice.ConclusionClinicians are less comfortable prescribing opioids to children for at-home use and find pain assessment and lack of clear guidelines to be barriers to pain care. Knowledge translation strategies for safer practice and optimal acute pain management could support responsible and judicious opioid use.

Project description:IntroductionSocial distancing requirements during COVID-19 pose a challenge to conducting traditional academic detailing, which typically involves in-person peer education visits to improve patient outcomes. The main alternative is to conduct virtual academic detailing delivered through web-based technology, but this approach is fraught with many challenges. This study aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a virtual academic detailing program implemented among health care providers.MethodsThe academic detailing program focused on appropriate opioid prescribing and chronic non-cancer pain management among a sample of providers. An initial in-person visit was followed by a virtual visit up to 8 weeks later. Videoconferencing was used to conduct the virtual visit with telephone as a backup. Feasibility was assessed whether the virtual visits could happen, and acceptability was assessed by provider satisfaction. Validated measures of Provider Satisfaction with Academic Detailing (PSAD) and Detailer Assessment of Visit Effectiveness (DAVE) with a 5-point Likert-type scale were used. Higher scores corresponded to higher satisfaction and greater perceived effectiveness. Non-parametric and parametric statistical tests were used to compare instrument summary scores across visits and between groups. Pairwise analyses across visits only included instrument responses for providers who participated in both visits and completed both surveys in their entirety.ResultsThere were 127 (90 %) initial in-person visits completed out of 141 visits scheduled, with a survey response rate of 96 %. Out of 120 virtual follow-up visits scheduled, 92 (77 %) were conducted, and 56 surveys (61 %) were collected. There was a high level of satisfaction with the initial and follow up virtual academic detailing visits, though, among providers who participated in both visits and had completed surveys (n = 50), initial visits had slightly higher scores (mean difference = -2.94 [95 % Confidence intervals: -4.38, -1.50], p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in detailer perception across the two visits as seen in the scale summary score (0.05 [-0.56, 0.66], p = 0.86) and two individually reported items related to feasibility (0.07 [-0.29, 0.42], p = 0.72) and conversation (-0.05 [-0.28, 0.17], p = 0.63). Forty-one (44.6 %) virtual visits were conducted using WebEx, where video and screen sharing of visit content was possible, while the remaining 51 (55.4 %) were conducted using a telephone. There was no significant difference in provider satisfaction between WebEx vs. telephone visits (-1.47 [-4.99, 2.05], p = 0.82). Provider satisfaction was also not impacted by any technical difficulties as reported by the detailer (-0.04 [-3.30, 3.38], p = 0.98).ConclusionThe results slightly favor in-person visits and suggest that virtual detailing visits need to incorporate strategies that minimize technical difficulties and prevent participants from defaulting to less favorable technology. Future research opportunities include evaluating the effectiveness of a virtual versus in-person delivery of AD program on outcomes such as providers' opioid prescribing behavior.

Dataset Information

The Impact Of Academic Medical Center Policies Restricting Direct-To-Physician Marketing On Opioid Prescribing.

Publications

The Impact Of Academic Medical Center Policies Restricting Direct-To-Physician Marketing On Opioid Prescribing.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets