continued growth of Internet resources and the development of prescriber outreach and other educational programs, alternative sources of timely, objective, up-to-date information should become more available and readily usable.

If a physician chooses to meet with pharmaceutical and device company representatives, certain conditions should apply. Meetings should be at the invitation of the physician and by appointment and should not involve gifts, including meals provided at the physician’s office. In limited cases, it may be appropriate for meetings to take place in the presence of patients (with their informed consent), primarily when representatives are providing in-service education or assistance with devices or equipment.

A related issue is drug company access to physician prescribing information. Currently, drug companies can buy coded prescribing information from pharmacy benefits programs and pharmacy chains. Companies can also purchase data from the AMA Masterfile, which links physician license numbers with their names, addresses, and phone numbers. Some physicians and others have objected to this practice (Steinbrook, 2006). In response, AMA now allows physicians who do not want their identifying information to be provided to companies to fill out a form to request that their data not be made available to company sales representatives and their supervisors (O’Reilly, 2006). (Other company personnel could still have access to the information.) It would be preferable and a lesser burden on physicians for AMA to set the default option so that identifying information would not be provided unless a physician affirmatively agrees.

As discussed in Chapter 5, the committee recognizes that access to affordable medications is a serious problem for many Americans, but it believes that reliance on drug samples is an unsatisfactory response. Samples are typically available only for newer and heavily marketed drugs, which may have no proven clinical benefits over alternatives, including less expensive equivalent drugs or generics. Although a sample may be convenient for the patient, it may not be the most appropriate medication. Many samples are provided to patients with insurance coverage and to physicians and their families, groups that do not have impaired access to medications. In such situations, the convenience of samples is outweighed by their potential to undermine evidence-based, cost-effective prescribing. For patients with chronic illnesses who lack the ability to pay for medications, a sample should be a stopgap that is accompanied by referral of the patient to a public or pharmaceutical company assistance program that can provide continuity of treatment. If physicians decide to accept drug samples, they should be given to patients who lack financial access to medications in situations in which appropriate generic alternatives are not available and the medication can be continued at little or no cost to the patient for as long as the patient needs it. The committee recognizes that physicians in