Sunshine Act Threatens Physician Response

A study has shown that more than 30% of physicians may no longer participate in market research if the Sunshine Payment Act is implemented, requiring drug and device manufacturers to disclose incentive payments over $20 for market research.

Market Probe and e-Rewards Market Research have conducted a study of 272 physicians across the US to better understand their current market research participation and opinions of the Sunshine Act, which was introduced into Congress at the beginning of the year, If implemented, would require drug and device manufacturers with annual revenues over $100m to disclose to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), anything of value given to physicians, such as payments, gifts, honoraria or travel. The bill is similar to current law already in force in the state of Minnesota.

More than a third of study participants said they participate in market research studies more than once per month; another 24% participate 1-3 times a quarter, and on average, an individual physician included in this study belongs to two market research panels.

Feedback show that 91% of physicians across the US are partially driven to participate in market research because of the incentives they receive.

However, some said they would be open to alternative compensation, such as charitable contributions and information exchanging. Potentially seven out of ten physicians said they would be willing to participate in healthcare market research in exchange for a $75 charitable donation.

Less than 20% of those surveyed were familiar with the new act, and only half of the physician community would still be comfortable participating in market research if the act was implemented. Around a third (32%) would probably decrease participation in market research studies due to the disclosure requirements of the act.

Marketprobe and e-Rewards believe that if the Sunshine Act is passed next year, it will 'fundamentally change' the way physician market research is performed, reduce the demographic representation of participants and therefore reduce the quality of data provided.

'In the end, the patients will lose the benefits of physician input to the process of new product development,' the firms concluded. 'By insisting on physician reporting of these payments, we are effectively limiting access to physician information and opinions, and this will impact the ability of pharmaceutical and medical device companies to provide the best products possible for the patients who need them most.'

Web sites: www.marketprobe.com and www.e-rewardsresearch.com .