An initial report did a study of Open Payments data (HCPs (Doctor, nurses) payments from Healthcare companies) against prescriptions issued and found a positive link that payment of meals = prescriptions.

A new study claimed that there is no link using the following key data. “What Fonseca and Tucker found was that doctors who accepted no free meals from opioid manufacturers wrote anywhere between 0 and 1000 prescriptions in 2015 – the same as those who accepted 50 or more free meals from opioid manufacturers.”

Me, I think meals / hospitality may help you get you a seat at the table but scientific evidence is needed to influence the vast majority of HCPs prescribing behaviours. Seems some may think differently. In Europe, Asia and South America, perhaps there is a regional / national cultural difference in how professionals see hospitality. My sense is the incoming generations see it as much less acceptable.