Survey shows majority of Americans favor transparency in gift-giving

BOSTON A majority of Americans support legislation requiring pharmaceutical companies to disclose gifts to doctors, results of a survey released Wednesday suggest.

The Prescription Project, a Boston group led by Community Catalyst and the Institute on Medicine as a Profession and funded in part by Pew Charitable Trusts, commissioned ICR to survey adults across the U.S. between June 4 and 8.

Of 1,009 respondents, 68 percent favored legislation that would require drug companies to disclose gifts to physicians. The organization estimates that such gifts constitute much of the $7 billion pharmaceutical companies spend annually marketing to physicians.

Between 62 and 86 percent of respondents would ban a wide range of gifts, ranging from pens and notepads to continuing education classes and speaking fees. Slightly more than half of respondents, 52 percent, said that accepting gifts significantly influenced doctors’ prescribing decisions, while 26 percent thought it had a moderate influence.

Both houses of Congress are considering the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which would create an online database disclosing pharmaceutical companies’ gifts to physicians, penalizing companies that failed to disclose. Similar proposals are under consideration in the state legislatures of New York and Massachusetts.