Physician pay, medical disclosure rules criticized

Beginning in 2012, drug and medical-device makers must record the payments they make to doctors, and they'll have to publicize them in a database by 2013 as part of federal health care reform. And some states — not Maryland — require similar disclosures or restrict the value of acceptable gifts.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, ranking member of the Finance Committee, said in a statement Monday, "For the most part, people scheduled for surgery don't know if there's a financial relationship between the doctor implanting a device and the maker of that device. Starting in 2013, that will change. The public will have access to the financial information. There will be transparency."