THE US government is planning to release data on drug and medical device company payments to tens of thousands of individual doctors.
THE goal is to shine a light on potential ethical conflicts in medicine.
Consumer groups say it’s overdue, but doctors’ groups fear consumers will jump to the wrong conclusions. President Barack Obama’s health care law calls for companies to report payments of $US10 ($A10.82) or more to physicians. It’s a provision that has bipartisan support. The goal is to allow patients to look up their own doctors online. That functionality won’t be ready yet. But the preliminary data being released on Tuesday is expected to be useful for researchers.