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	Institution: STANFORD Univ Med Center  | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In Vol. 5 No. 4, April 1996   Archives  •  Online Features ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS  This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal Physicians, Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives, and the Cost of Prescribing T. Shawn Caudill, MD; Mitzi S. Johnson, PhD; Eugene C. Rich, MD; W. Paul McKinney, MD Arch Fam Med. 1996;5(4):201-206. Abstract Objective To evaluate the influence of primary care physicians' attitudes toward and use of information provided by pharmaceutical representatives on prescribing costs in ambulatory practice. Design A mailed questionnaire collected information about physician demographic and practice characteristics and attitudes toward and use of information provided by pharmaceutical representatives. Participants Kentucky physicians practicing primary care adult medicine (family medicine, general practice, general medicine; n=1603). Main Outcome Measure Relative cost of prescribing, based on physician responses to treatment choices for ambulatory clinical scenarios in primary care. A multivariable regression model assessed predictive relationships between independent variables and prescription costs. Results Four hundred forty-six returned questionnaires were suitable for analysis. No significant differences were noted in age, gender, days worked per week, or years since graduation between responders and a sample of nonresponders. A significant positive correlation was found between physician cost of prescribing and perceived credibility, availability, applicability, and use of information provided by pharmaceutical representatives (P<.01, Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient). Physicians in academic or hospital-based practice settings had significantly lower prescribing costs than physicians in nonacademic and nonhospital practices (P=.001, analysis of variance). Frequency of use of information provided by pharmaceutical representatives (P=.01, multiple linear regression) and the group practice setting (P=.02, multiple linear regression) remained significant, independent positive predictors of cost in the multivariable regression model. Conclusions Frequency of use of information provided by pharmaceutical representatives and the group practice, nonacademic and nonhospital setting may be associated with increased primary care physician prescribing costs. Author Affiliations From the Department of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, University of Kentucky and Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, Lexington (Drs Caudill and Rich); Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington (Dr Johnson); and Department of Medicine, University of Louisville (Ky) Health Sciences Center and Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Dr McKinney). THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES Impact of pharmaceutical representative visits on GPs' drug preferences Sondergaard et al. Fam Pract 2009;26:204-209. ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT   Antihypertensive Prescriptions for Newly Treated Patients Before and After the Main Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial Results and Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure Guidelines Muntner et al. Hypertension 2009;53:617-623. 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