June 2018
Contact: New York All Payer Database Staff
Email: nysapd@health.ny.gov
Using 2013 - 2015 data from the Open Payments and Medicare drug utilization data, this report examines how payments from opioid manufacturers to physicians may have influenced opioid prescribing in New York State. This report also aims to provide insight regarding the possible effects of opioid-related payments. Key findings include:
- More than $3.5 million in opioid-related payments were made to physicians in New York State by pharmaceutical companies; about one in ten physicians who prescribed opioids to Medicare patients received a payment.
- Physicians who received payments from opioid manufacturers prescribed more opioids to Medicare patients than physicians who did not receive any opioid-related payments.
- Moreover, a higher number of opioid prescriptions was associated with more opioid-related payments to physicians.
- Opioid-related payments from industry were concentrated within a small proportion of physicians, who tended to prescribe a large quantity of opioids. The top 1% of physicians in New York, in terms of the amount received in opioid-related payments, received more than
- 80% of total payments.
- Opioid-related payments may lead to an increase in opioid prescribing, based on comparisons with a matched group of similar physicians who did not receive any opioid-related payments.
- While these results cannot determine the appropriateness of opioid prescribing, they add to a growing body of research raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest resulting from certain physician and industry financial relationships. Further monitoring of physician-industry relationships is needed and additional limitations on them should be considered.