Profession

Prominent physicians call for an end to all drug company gifts

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 13, 2006

Print  |   Email  |   Respond  |   Reprints  |   Like Facebook  |   Share Twitter  |   Tweet Linkedin

Marketing dollars from drug and medical device companies are compromising the medical profession and jeopardizing patient safety, a group of physician leaders say, and it must stop if doctors want to preserve their scientific and professional integrity and keep patients safe.

A working group of physicians and academic leaders, including Jordan Cohen, MD, president of the Assn. of American Medical Colleges, and Jerome Kassirer, MD, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, say academic medical centers should:

  • Replace free drug samples with a voucher system for low-income patients.
  • Distribute industry money for CME through a central office at each institution.
  • Ban all faculty from industry speakers bureaus.
  • Prohibit open-ended industry grants to faculty.
  • Ensure more transparency in faculty research relationships with drug and device makers by posting faculty consulting and research contracts on a public Web site.

The group laid out its recommendations for tighter conflict of interest controls in the Jan. 25 Journal of the American Medical Association.

The group concludes that if medicine follows the recommendations, outside regulation of the medical profession will ease, and physicians will write prescriptions based on evidence, not from a sense of reciprocity.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/02/13/prbf0213.htm.

Back to top


ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISE HERE


Featured
Read story

Confronting bias against obese patients

Medical educators are starting to raise awareness about how weight-related stigma can impair patient-physician communication and the treatment of obesity. Read story


Read story

Goodbye

American Medical News is ceasing publication after 55 years of serving physicians by keeping them informed of their rapidly changing profession. Read story


Read story

Policing medical practice employees after work

Doctors can try to regulate staff actions outside the office, but they must watch what they try to stamp out and how they do it. Read story


Read story

Diabetes prevention: Set on a course for lifestyle change

The YMCA's evidence-based program is helping prediabetic patients eat right, get active and lose weight. Read story


Read story

Medicaid's muddled preventive care picture

The health system reform law promises no-cost coverage of a lengthy list of screenings and other prevention services, but some beneficiaries still might miss out. Read story


Read story

How to get tax breaks for your medical practice

Federal, state and local governments offer doctors incentives because practices are recognized as economic engines. But physicians must know how and where to find them. Read story


Read story

Advance pay ACOs: A down payment on Medicare's future

Accountable care organizations that pay doctors up-front bring practice improvements, but it's unclear yet if program actuaries will see a return on investment. Read story


Read story

Physician liability: Your team, your legal risk

When health care team members drop the ball, it's often doctors who end up in court. How can physicians improve such care and avoid risks? Read story

  • Stay informed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • LinkedIn