How much is a Miami doctor's endorsement worth? A lot, if you're a pharma company

Pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers are flooding South Florida doctors with millions of dollars in payments for consulting and promotional talks to drive higher prescription rates. The payments have been commonplace in the industry for more than a decade, and have continued at a steady pace despite increased scrutiny from prosecutors and academics, according to an analysis of federal data by ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization.