Industry group Medicines Australia is under pressure from its members to name doctors who receive payments and publicly disclose the amounts and will today unveil a new Transparency Working Group to advise on the best way to do this.
The Australian Medical Association will resist calls for the public naming of individual doctors and how much they receive from drug companies.
AMA president Steve Hambleton said: "The risks are public reporting may misinform the public and if it is attributed to the wrong practitioner, it could be damaging."Instead, the AMA wants doctors to tell patients in the privacy of the consulting room about their relationship with medicine companies.
In the same way that doctors are required to disclose to patients their interest in a hospital to which they refer them, they should tell them of their links with medicine companies, he said.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/doctors-on-the-spot-to-reveal-pharma-junkets/story-e6frg6nf-1226449605658
