Doctors will soon have to disclose gifts and payments they receive from pharmaceutical companies. Under the Sunshine Act, a provision of the Affordable Care Act, pharmaceutical and medical-device companies will have to record nearly every financial interaction they have with doctors, whether it’s paying them for research consultation, paying them for speeches, or sending a pizza to their office. That information will then be published on a searchable, public website from September 2014 onward. Many physicians make considerable income from consulting and speaking fees they receive from drug companies; last year alone the biggest drugmaker, Pfizer, paid $173.2 million to health-care professionals.
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