Imagine if drugmakers did this. You may recall that five big makers of medical device implants in late September reached a $310 million agreement to resolve charges that they paid kickbacks to docs that included sham consulting fees, bogus royalty payments and trips to tourist spots. The companies - Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy, Biomet Orthopedics, Smith & Nephew, Stryker and Zimmer Holdings - account for almost 95 percent of the market in hip and knee implants.

As part of their deal with the US Department of Justice, the companies agreed to post on their websites payments made to their consultants and, so far this year, there were 47 cases where payments exceeded $1 million, Dow Jones reports. Zimmer notched 21 payments greater than $1 million and DePuy made the biggest - more than $6.7 million to $6.75 million to Thomas Thornhill, who chairs the department of orthopedic surgery at Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston.

“AAOS supports appropriate financial disclosures to patients regarding relationships between orthopaedic surgeons and implant manufacturers,” Jim Beaty, the president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in a statement. “The priority of AAOS members is the care and well being of their patients. We are committed to making sure that patients and the public have confidence that partnerships between companies and physicians put the interests of patients first. It is important to understand that the appearance of a physician’s name on any financial disclosure filings indicates only that he or she has received compensation from the manufacturer.”

Of course, the AAOS shows up on three of the lists. Look for yourself. This is the Zimmer list. And this is the Stryker list. Here is the DePuy list. This is the Biomet list. And here is the Smith & Nephew list.

At the time the agreements were reached, US Attorney Christopher Christie said: “We expect doctors to make decisions based on what is in the best interests of their patients - not the best interests of their bank accounts.” Well, at least we now know a little more about their bank accounts.

Hat tip to the WSJ Health Blog