I see drug reps in my office a few times a week. I have been doing that for over 13 years. It has changed a lot over that time. When I first started in practice the other physicians used to have them bring lunches in for the whole staff. We soon changed that to just bringing in lunches for the doctors. That stopped over ten years ago. We began having the reps schedule a 5 to 10 minute visit at 3:00 PM for coffee. They would bring some bagels and coffee and we could listen to what they had and decide about taking samples. We did this on our own and without the government (state or local) getting on our case. Now, I am the only doctor in our office to even meet with drug reps. They are to bring a protein bar and a diet Mountain Dew and I will listen to their info. I do NOT hate drug reps. Many are my friends that I have known for years. I play basketball with some, go to dinner with others, and play fantasy football with another. They DO have something to offer. I know that these five minute interludes at 3:00 PM can become "commercials" but I dictate the terms. Heck, our office doesn't even take samples anymore. I want to know what is new out there, what insurance is covering the product, and if there are any coupons that my patients can use to cut down on the copay. When I hear about Massachusetts barring industry gifts such as pens, notepads and food in physician offices to reduce health care costs and physician conflicts of interest, it makes me laugh. I have always hated their crappy pens, I never used their notepads and I am worth the cost of them buying me a diet Mountain Dew and protein bar! Can we stop all the reporting and investigating into the evilness of drug reps already? The practicing doctors in the trenches like myself are not dirty for talking to them. If you want to shine a light on anyone, then point it at the researchers in the ivory towers of Harvard, etc. Or point it at Congress who are wined and dined and given gifts all the time. Or how about our esteemed journals (i.e. JAMA, NEJM) who not only are filled with ads by big Pharma but also get paid tons by them to reprint their articles in a nice glossy format so that the same evil drug reps can hand them out to me?
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