According to 2015 Open Payments data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service (CMS), Robert Califf, M.D., the head of the FDA, received five payments from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for travel, lodging, food and beverages, as well as a more than $5, 000 consulting fee from AstraZeneca in 2015. In 2014, before going to work for the FDA, Califf received almost $32, 000 from companies and in 2013 he received more than $28, 000.
At first an FDA spokesperson said the agency couldn’t immediately confirm the accuracy of the data. Then the agency said Califf is disputing the payment, and GSK said that the payment was for a 2014 trip. The payments were $341 in travel and lodging to go to an event on December 15. He also received about $22 for food.
“Commissioner Califf has filed a dispute with CMS in regard to the reported data, ” said the FDA spokesperson. “Throughout his government service, he has strictly adhered to federal ethics requirements and has no financial ties to industry.”
Califf is the only current FDA leader reportedly on the payment list. However, former commissioner under President George H. W. Bush, David Kessler, received $40, 000 from Immucor, while FDA’s commissioner under George W. Bush, Andrew Von Eschenbach, received more than $50, 000 from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Eli Lilly and E.R. Squibb and Sons.
The agency’s former deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs Scott Gottlieb, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, reportedly pulled in $199, 951 in 2015, including more than $60, 000 from GlaxoSmithKline, more than $50, 000 from Daiichi Sankyo and more than $65, 000 from Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Gottlieb reportedly said that he sits on the GSK research and development board, serves on the board of directors for Daiichi and acts as a senior adviser to Vertex.
$7.65 Billion Payments to 618, 000 Physicians
Payments to physicians and teaching hospitals from drug, device and biotechnology companies were made public on July 1, 2016. For 2015, the second full year of reporting, health care industry manufacturers reported $7.52 billion in payments and ownership and investment interests to physicians and teaching hospitals. This amount encompasses 11.9 million records attributable to 618, 931 physicians and 1, 116 teaching hospitals.
Here is a brief summary of some of the reporting:
- Medtronic Sofamor Danek paid $61.6 million to 11, 743 physicians.
- Stryker Corporation paid $61.9 million to 18, 897 physicians.
- Zimmer Biomet Holdings paid $102 million to 22, 059 physicians
- DePuy Synthes paid $72.5 million to 2, 352 physicians.
Payment Shifts
According to Thomas Sullivan’s Policy & Medicine, “there was a notable shift toward charitable contributions and fewer payments to physicians in the form of honoraria and gifts. In terms of dollar value, companies increased charitable contributions on behalf of physicians by over 120%. Payments for food and beverage, travel and lodging, and consulting fees were either flat or slightly declined. Payments for honoraria declined by about fifty percent and by more than thirty percent for gifts.”
The American Medical Association is still concerned over the accuracy of the reporting. The association stated, “continued data errors and registration challenges during the previous two years have thwarted many physicians from participating in the review and validation process” and that the “integrity goals of the Open Payments database will not be met as long as physician review is obstructed by a registration procedure that is confusing, time consuming and overly burdensome.”
Shantanu Agrawal, M.D., the director of the CMS office of program integrity, wrote in a blog post, “the Open Payments Program does not identify whether financial relationships are beneficial or may indicate conflicts of interest.”
The data base allows for searches of specific physicians or companies. If you want to see what the public sees when looking for surgeon payments, click here.
