A ProPublica analysis found physicians who receive payouts from pharmaceutical companies prescribe more branded medications than physicians not receiving payouts, according to Parent Herald.
Here are four insights:
1. On average, physicians who received more money prescribed more branded medications.
2. The number of physicians accepting payouts varies throughout the United States. The number of physicians taking payouts in Alabama, Nevada, Kentucky and South Carolina is nearly twice as high as those in Vermont, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Maine.
3. In 2014, nearly 90 percent of cardiologists nationwide who prescribed almost 1,000 Medicare patients took payouts.
4. Researchers concluded there is an association between payments and brand-name prescribing.
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