New York, N.Y.—June 23, 2014—ProPublica and Obsidian HDS, the developer of PharmaShine (www.pharmashine.com), an online service for the management of data on pharmaceutical and device industry payments to healthcare professionals, announced today that they would cooperate on the future development of ProPublica’s award-winning Dollars for Docs database. This agreement will allow ProPublica to update Dollars for Docs with PharmaShine data and will provide PharmaShine’s academic and institutional clients with access to the Dollars for Docs data on PharmaShine’s proprietary digital platform.
Richard Tofel, President of ProPublica, said, “ProPublica is delighted to be working with Obsidian HDS. Obsidian HDS has a vast amount of experience with data on industry payments to physicians and access to their resources will allow us to bring Dollars for Docs quickly up-to-date.”
George Dunston, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Obsidian HDS, said, “Dollars for Docs has made data on industry payments to physicians widely available to healthcare consumers. This cooperation will allow consumers access to more recent data while providing our academic, research, industry clients with the ability to view the Dollars for Docs data using our proprietary online analytical tools, developed specifically for those who need to use this data in a professional capacity.”
About ProPublica
ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. In 2010, it was the first online news organization to win a Pulitzer Prize. In 2011, ProPublica won its second Pulitzer, the first ever awarded to a body of work that did not appear in print. In 2013, ProPublica won a Peabody Award. ProPublica is supported primarily by philanthropy and provides the articles it produces, free of charge, both through its own website and often to leading news organizations selected with an eye toward maximizing the impact of each article. For more information, please visit www.ProPublica.org.
About Obsidian HDS
Obsidian Healthcare Disclosure Services, LLC, formed in 2008 is a developer of online compliance and disclosure solutions for the healthcare industry. Co-Founded by a former in-house attorney at a major pharmaceutical company and a finance professional, Obsidian HDS launched its first online application, PharmaShine, in August of 2009. PharmaShine is an internet-based system for the collection, disclosure, and management of pharmaceutical and medical device industry payments to healthcare professionals. PharmaShine currently tracks over 3.6 million individual transactions with over 700,000 physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners across the United States. PharmaShine subscribers include top medical schools, major healthcare systems, leading research centers, and healthcare companies. For more information please visit www.pharmashine.com.
