Appearing on WNYC's weekly news magazine On The Media this weekend, Pro Publica's "Dollars for Docs" rabble rousers Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber note that Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Physician Assistants (PAs) are likely to reap something of a windfall of new attention on the part of drug & device makers as the new Dollars to Docs reporting rules go into effect, as the legislation says nothing about Dollars to NPs and PAs.
They also observe that the problems of third-party funded Continuing Medical Education and (something else: I have to re-listen to program) are not addressed by the legislation.
So progress, perhaps great progress (we'll see how searchable and user friendly the database is...), but still a ways to go.
