Who's paying your doctor? - Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5

If you're seeing a specialist, Dr. Oz says it's safe to assume your doctor receives drug company money. It's become common practice in medicine these days. But could that money influence which pill your doctor prescribes for you?   

Starting in 2013, all pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers will be required to disclose their physician's payments.

Like it or not, doctors and drug companies are tight.

That pill you take?   A drug company paid doctors to research it.

That latest treatment you're hearing about?  A drug company pays doctors to teach other physicians how it works.
    
"I don't blame the process that allows doctors to get money from pharmaceutical companies. I'm upset when you as a patient don't know that's happening," said Dr. Mehmet Oz.

So how do you know?

Propublica.org, an investigative journalism website, has created a "Dollars for Docs" database made up of 12 drug company disclosure lists.

Type in your doctor's name and you can find out if he or she received money, how much, and what that money paid for.

Dr. Oz says most physicians will shoot straight about their drug company ties – if you ask.

"But a lot of times, what happens in medicine is you don't volunteer information.  So, all you need to do as a patient, a smart patient, is make it easier for folks to volunteer information so that you understand completely what's going on with your care," said Dr. Oz.

And you shouldn't rule a doctor out just because they receive drug company payments.

"For sure I wouldn't rule them out. Quite the opposite. Oftentimes they know more about a drug than anybody else does because they've been able to do research on it," said Dr. Oz.

But Dr. Oz says your physician needs to shoots straight about potential conflicts of interest like why he or she recommends one pill over another, or a brand name over a generic, and then let you decide.  And he's actually more worried about how over-medicated we all are.

"If you're taking more than six medications - and that includes medication and herbs and supplements - if you're taking more than six pills a day, there's a 50 percent chance, a 50 percent chance according to the Institute of Medicine, which is a major body that considers these statistics, that you'll have a drug-to-drug interaction. Think about that: half the time, one drug will react with another drug and cause an adverse reaction," said Dr. Oz.

So before you pop that pill, ask questions.

"How sure are you this pill will help me?  Is there any particular reason why you might think that's the case that I should know about?  And that will usually clarify for you enough to make a decision it's worth the risk or not," said Dr. Oz.

Georgia doctors ranked 12th in terms of how much money they received from drug companies, according to Propublica.org.   

Twelve companies reported just over $20 million in payments to Georgia doctors since 2009. That doesn't include about 70 companies, who have so far not disclosed their payments.