Painting by Jesus Solana

Federal data show that medically related companies paid U.S. physicians  about $369 million in consulting payments in 2014, with some physicians taking in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Some of these had consulting deals — with big travel and other expense accounts — with multiple manufacturers.

Many healthcare experts consider such deals as big conflicts of interest that can lead to overpriced and underperforming medications and devices  coming to market while others defend physician-consultant payments as essential in helping to create and review better products for patients.