What determines the drugs your doctor prescribes for you?

Even Cheap Meals Influence Doctors' Drug Prescriptions, Study Suggests
by: Peter Loftus
Jun 21, 2016
Click here to view the full article on WSJ.com

TOPICS: Moral Hazard, Statistics

SUMMARY: Doctors who received a single free meal from a drug company were more likely to prescribe the drug the company was promoting than doctors who received no such meals, according to a study.

CLASSROOM APPLICATION: Students can critically evaluate the study examining the relationship between industry-sponsored meals and physician prescriptions. In particular, instructors can stress the difference between a correlations between meals and prescriptions and the causal effect of meals on prescriptions. Students can also discuss whether

QUESTIONS: 
1. (Introductory) The study reports, "Receipt of industry-sponsored meals was associated with an increased rate of prescribing the brand-name medication that was being promoted. The findings represent an association, not a cause-and-effect relationship." Does this statistical association between meals and prescription decisions imply that the meals influence doctors' drug prescriptions?

2. (Advanced) Is it possible that pharmaceutical reps promote (i.e., detail) drugs that are most effective? If so, could the detailing improve economic efficiency by its promotion of effective drugs?

3. (Advanced) What types of studies should be done to determine (1) whether pharmaceutical detailing has a causal effect on the prescriptions physicians write, and (2) whether detailing improves economic efficiency by providing information about pharmaceuticals?

Reviewed By: James Dearden, Lehigh University