Iowa practice draws notice for its "no-gift" policy

Doctors argue that drug rep meetings are not a good use of a physician's time.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. Feb. 14, 2005.

Iowa gastroenterologist Dean Abramson, MD, has two pens in his pocket: one from a local guitar studio and the other from the FAO Schwarz toy store.

It's unlikely that Dr. Abramson will be using a drug firm's pen anytime soon. It's also unlikely that he will be using any company notepads or having a meal picked up by a pharmaceutical sales representative, either.

After years of cajoling the five other physicians at the Gastroenterologists P.C. office in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Dr. Abramson was able to elicit a unanimous decree that the practice will no longer accept drug company gifts or meals. He posted a notice on the front door and sent an announcement to the local newspaper. A few days later, word of what the practice did was reported on the Internet and was receiving widespread exposure.

Dr. Abramson said he's "totally, completely" surprised by the attention but hopes it has an impact on "skyrocketing" drug costs and what he thought was the government's failure to address the issue. "We're just doing our small part to try and combat that," he said. "But we won't have much of an impact unless this happens in a lot of clinics."

Dr. Abramson said he doubts the absence of drug company sales reps will hurt his practice's ability to keep up to date on the latest medical developments. "I don't think we're missing a darn thing," he said. "I really don't trust any of the information that they peddled to us, and I think there was just an increasing realization that there was no benefit to the information they were providing."