Physicians and hospitals alike receive payments from various external organizations, such as pharmaceutical companies who engage sales representatives to not only educate practitioners on their products, but also provide gifts or payments in kind or otherwise. In theory, gifts or payments made to physicians are not intended to influence their prescribing behavior, and pharmaceutical companies adopt careful measures to maintain checks and balances on payments being made to healthcare providers.
In 2010, President Obama's signature Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known in popular parlance as Obamacare, went into effect. Alongside the ACA, a separate legislation known as the Sunshine Act made reporting items of monetary value (directly or indirectly) mandatory for pharmaceutical companies and other organizations. While such...
