Minnesota Law Requires Medicaid Prescription Drug Formulary Panel Members To Disclose Ties To Pharmaceutical Companies

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Article Date: 25 Aug 2007 - 9:00 PST

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A Minnesota law that requires pharmaceutical companies to report certain payments to physicians is "shining a rare light onto the big money" spent on Medicaid drug formulary panel members, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The state is one of three in the U.S. that requires drug makers to disclose payments made to physicians for lectures, consulting and other services, along with Maine and Vermont.

The Minnesota Medicaid Drug Formulary Committee earlier this year began considering conflict-of-interest rules that would require panel members to disclose financial relationships with drug companies and recuse themselves from voting in some cases. The committee next month is expected to act on the rules.

A review of state records conducted in mid-June by the Associated Press found that a physician and a pharmacist on the eight-member panel received simultaneous payments -- one for more than $350,000 -- from drug makers for services. Both of the members and the committee chair say the payments did not influence their work on the committee.

However, the AP/Inquirer reports that it is "difficult to track any link between payment and policy" because members' votes are not recorded. State officials said they would review the panel's past actions to see whether payments influenced members and they would start screening appointees to two dozen advisory panels for potential conflicts of interest. In addition, the state will require the Drug Formulary Committee to begin recording how panel members vote.

Ethics
Ethical experts say the findings raise questions about conflicts in other states. Jack Hoadley, a research professor at Georgetown University who specializes in Medicaid, said, "In the absence of disclosure laws, there's certainly no way to know," adding, "There are a lot of physicians in general who have at least some contract or grant funding out of pharmaceutical companies."

Arthur Caplan, chair of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, said, "This is a high-stakes committee. If you're going to have your hand on that tiller, you don't want to think that anybody is trying to push it" (Lohn, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/22).

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