11/22/10
Governor-Elect Nikki Haley
Columbia, South Carolina
Dear Governor-Elect Haley,
I want to make you aware of something this state really needs in order to show you really stand for transparency. I am sure you’d like the people who voted you into office to see you can stand behind a promise you made.
The honorable State of Massachusetts became the first state in the United States to post online database of payments from drug and medical device companies to the state’s health care providers.
The new database, detailed on Monday by the Boston Globe, one of the Dollars for Docs partners, is a result of a 2008 state law regulating industry conduct. The database lists nearly $36 million spent from July through December of 2009 for speaking, consulting, food, educational programs, marketing studies and charitable donations.
I am assuming you’d like to not be last in the nation to implement such a database. So, here I am encouraging you and the Republican legislature to follow through on being transparent. Show , borrowing a tagline, the people of this fine state the money!
Drug and device companies do not necessarily spend money consistently throughout the year. For example, a search for Dr. Andrew G. Kowal in the Massachusetts database shows that he earned $11,324 from Eli Lilly and Co. in the six-month period covered. But Dollars for Docs shows that Lilly paid Dr. Kowal $48,200 in 2009 (Massachusetts’s data does show Kowal received payments from companies not included in Dollars for Docs). So until next year, we won’t really know how much these companies are spending in Massachusetts over the course of a year.
The Massachusetts data includes other kinds of payments, such as charitable donations and payouts to hospitals and clinics, which are not included in Dollars for Docs. The state’s Office of Health and Human Services allows you to look at some prepared reports, do your own query, or even download the whole dataset from their site.
Governor-Elect, here’s where you can get a start on this and read more about Dollars for Docs.
http://www.propublica.org/...
http://www.propublica.org/...
Sincerely Yours,
Jamie Sanderson – Georgetown, South Carolina
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