A while back, Sen. Charles Grassley wrote to state health officials, asking for lists of top Medicaid prescribers of certain drugs. When her state released its, Lisa Chedekel of the Connecticut Health Investigative Team took it and ran with it, using all manner of public data to assemble a portrait of Connecticut’s prolific prescribers and the conflicts of interest that may drive them.
Speaking of conflicts of interest, Chedekel found that 43 of the 108 high prescribers (some broke into the top 10 for multiple drugs) earned money, meals or other benefits from the very companies whose drugs they were subscribing in such large quantities. She profiles a number of these physicians, but my personal favorite is one whose records show a curious correlation:
Dr. Kathleen Degen of Norwich was not among the top prescribers of Eli Lilly’s Zyprexa in 2008, but was the seventh-highest prescriber in 2009 (with 255 prescriptions), when Eli Lilly paid her $24,950 in speaking fees. Her prescribing fell off slightly in 2010, and she received $5,291 from Eli Lilly for speaking and travel. She disappeared from the high prescriber list in 2011 and received just $16 in meals from Eli Lilly, records show.
To better understand the problems that could arise from situations like these, Chedekel talked with academics, as well as a number of physicians named in the story. She also took a look at the drugs themselves, many of which Grassley had selected due to their controversial nature. The piece is a blueprint for reporting state-by-state on similar lists. The story also aired on Fox Connecticut.
