Writing on KevinMD.com, psychiatrist and blogger Daniel Carlat reviews ProPublica’s Dollars for Docs database from the perspective of a medical professional, one who has taken a firm stand against drug company money and the conflicts of interest it brings. Carlat’s real focus is not the Dollars for Docs project, but rather the data available from drug companies. He does point out some limitations inherent in the data ProPublica is working with. And he writes about a slightly inverted use of the data, one which caused him to ask “How have we allowed this to happen to our once proud profession?”
There’s another way to use the Dollars for Docs database, although this is not spelled out on the website. If you want to browse for all the doctors in your city or state who are “on the take,” simply leave the “name” field blank, choose a state from the drop down menu, and click search. You’ll get a huge spreadsheet which is arranged alphabetically by last names of the doctors. By clicking on the various columns, you can sort the data by city, drug company, amount of money, or time period of the payments. This is a nice feature that is absent from most of the drug company databases.
Carlat’s data trick is a simple one, and one which local reporters should take a minute to replicate if they haven’t already. After reviewing the mountain of local data revealed by his sorting and the vast armies of conflicted doctors it implies, Carlat reminds us of the power of pharma money then drives home the sheer magnitude of the issue.
The true malfeasance here is in the aggregated effect. The companies are using these legions of doctors to artificially manipulate medical discourse. Any doctor who participates in the enterprise knows exactly how they are being used. You decide whether this is “immoral” or not.
