Source:
Inside Health Policy (subscription only)
Pew Proposals, GSK Policy Spark Debate On CME Conflict Of Interest
A recent article in Inside Health Policy outlines the CME Coalition's response to a recent Pew Charitable Trusts recommendation to eliminate industry-funded continuing medical education. The article notes that report's recommendations "would eliminate one out of every three dollars going toward medical instruction." Although it fails to cite any evidence that commercial support for CME results in inaccurate physician instruction, or manifests any negative impact on patient outcomes, the Pew Trust prescribes a remedy that would eviscerate funding for physician education.
Inside Health Policy (subscription only)
Pew Proposals, GSK Policy Spark Debate On CME Conflict Of Interest
A recent article in Inside Health Policy outlines the CME Coalition's response to a recent Pew Charitable Trusts recommendation to eliminate industry-funded continuing medical education. The article notes that report's recommendations "would eliminate one out of every three dollars going toward medical instruction." Although it fails to cite any evidence that commercial support for CME results in inaccurate physician instruction, or manifests any negative impact on patient outcomes, the Pew Trust prescribes a remedy that would eviscerate funding for physician education.
A group representing CME providers and medical device and drug makers is blasting proposals aimed at curbing industry influence on academic institutions, saying a recent Pew Charitable Trusts recommendation to eliminate industry-funded continuing medical education at medical schools would eliminate one out of every three dollars going toward medical instruction. The debate occurs as a major pharmaceutical company this week said it would stop directly compensating doctors for speaking engagements -- an idea also endorsed in the report.
The Pew report proposed a ban on sales representatives at medical schools and academic medical centers, and also called for eliminating industry-backed continuing medical eduction, among a slew of other recommendations.
The CME Coalition said the recommendations, if followed, would devastate accredited medical instruction.
"Once again, the absolutists at the Pew Trust have staked an utterly irresponsible position that, if taken seriously, would literally jeopardize the health of every American due to an undocumented belief that a doctor's judgment can be bought for the price of a sandwich," Andrew Rosenberg, senior advisor to the CME Coalition, said in a statement. About a third of all accredited continuing medical education comes from corporate grants, while the government and doctors are other sources of funding, he said.
The CME portion of the Pew report specifically recommended creating a blinded pool of money to support CME programs, requiring that commercially funded courses be supported by at least two companies and that one company not fund more than 50 percent, mandating physicians personally contribute money toward industry-supported courses, and requiring industry-supported courses take place in non-resort locations.
But Rosenberg said accredited programs already have strict rules in place to combat conflicts of interest and those standards have improved over the past decade. He argues that the report's CME recommendations go beyond the firewalls already put in place. "They're taking it to another level," he said.
If companies have interest in certain disease areas, like breast cancer, they contribute grants toward CME, but this does not occur through the company's marketing department. The content is also science-based and not branded, he said. Creating a pool of money would not allow companies any control over how the funds are directed, Rosenberg said.
