Things have tightened up a bit since then, though not completely. My dad ran hospitals for a living when I was a kid and we got tons of free tickets to sporting events from various vendors trying to sell him stuff. He would have to listen to a 10 minute pitch from some salesman (that he always made fun of later) and in return he got a free night out with the family. I remember being mad when that dried up in the mid-2000s. I later learned that CMS had implemented some regulations cracking down on the practice.

These days, thanks to the ACA, you can look up exactly how much money your doctor has received from medical device manufacturers or pharmaceutical companies (https://www.cms.gov/openpayments/)