While policymakers question whether drug makers are hurting healthcare reform by paying doctors fees, Eli Lilly revealed that it paid 10 South Florida providers more than $10,000 each during the first quarter.
In the first revelation about how much drug makers are paying doctors, Eli Lilly has created an online registry detailing payments to 3,400 healthcare providers -- including more than two dozen in South Florida in the first three months of this year.
Top on the South Florida list -- and No. 3 in the nation -- was internist Manuel Suarez-Barcelo, who told The Miami Herald that he earned $65,000 by traveling through 11 states, making 41 presentations, mostly to nursing home staff, about the advantages of the Lilly drug Forteo, used to treat osteoporosis.
Seven others in South Florida pulled in more than $10,000 each, including Broward obstetrician-gynecologist Jay S. Cohen, who received $38,000.
The payments are not illegal, but Washington policymakers question whether they raise the potential for conflicts of interest. ... [what the average layman calls BRIBERY. ed.]
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