Changes in pharmaceutical industry payments to physicians after New Jersey's 2018 restriction

The federal government and several states have implemented measures to restrict, ban, and increase transparency of promotional payments from pharmaceutical companies to clinicians who prescribe medications. In 2018, New Jersey adopted a novel rule that included a $10 000 restriction on aggregate annual prescriber compensation for promotional speaking, advisory board participation, and consulting arrangements. In this study, we estimated changes associated with the restriction by comparing payments made to physicians in New Jersey to those in a comparator state, Pennsylvania, where no such rule exists. We found that the New Jersey restriction was associated with no significant difference in the proportion of physicians receiving aggregate honoraria and consulting payments above $10 000 annually as compared to physicians in Pennsylvania. Further research is needed to better understand the effect of state policies restricting pharmaceutical industry payments to prescribers.