Are medical device representatives allowed in physician practices?
Recent studies suggest the number of physicians who allow sales reps in their practice is declining; however a new Medscape poll surveying physicians in September and October 2016 suggests they might be more tolerant than originally thought.
An SK&A study earlier this year found 36 percent of physicians don't permit access to industry sales people and half of hospital-employed physicians bar visits. However, here are the results from the Medscape study of 823 respondents, around 500 of which are physicians:
1. In the physician practice setting, 73 percent said they allowed sales reps while just 25 percent refused them.
2. There were some physicians who may have allowed reps despite rules against them while other physicians may have told reps they were barred despite organizational policies that would have allowed them.
Among practices that prohibited visits, 8 percent said they frequently or always still saw reps; another 10 percent reported sometimes seeing them.
3. In the past year, around 63 percent of physician practices reported frequently or always seeing reps.
4. The practices' advanced practice nurses were more welcoming, as around 77 percent said they allowed visits; 58 percent said they frequently or always allowed visits. Only around 13 percent didn't accept visits from reps.
5. There were 17 percent of the physicians and 12 percent of the nurses who felt their practices policies toward sales reps were too lenient while 13 percent of physicians and 10 percent of nurses felt the policy was too restrictive.