Open Payments Website Shows $3.5 Billion In Industry Compensation To Doctors And Hospitals

The recently opened Open Payments website created by the government has “revealed that U.S. doctors and teaching hospitals had $3.5 billion worth of financial ties with drug and medical-device makers in the last five months of 2013”, LA Times reports.

Open Payments was created in order to give the public information about conflicts of interest among medical providers.

Currently, the website only provides data for a couple of months in 2013. Still, this amounts to “546,000 U.S. physicians and 1,360 teaching hospitals [receiving] some form of compensation.”

However, “federal officials urged people not to rush to conclusions because financial ties between medical providers and manufacturers don't necessarily signal wrongdoing.”

Consumers shouldn’t jump to conclusions if they see their physician receive funding from outside sources. Receiving payment from companies is often a common part of the scientific investigation process.

Summary by MedicalGroups.com

To read more from the LA times, Click Here