Since August 1, 2013, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act has required drug and device makers to report their payments to doctors. Food and drink count. Patients can search for their own doctor’s name.
In 2016 researchers at UC San Francisco used these records for 279,669 physicians. Ninety-five percent of the payments were meals, at an average cost of less than $20. Doctors who received just one meal were up to twice as likely to prescribe the promoted brand-name drug. Doctors who received several meals were up to three times as likely.
The authors warn that the data show a link. They do not prove that the meals caused the prescriptions.