CME Coalition Questions Pew Taskforce on COI Recommendations as “Irresponsible” and Potentially Dangerous to America’s Health

This week, the Pew Charitable Trust Prescription Project released a small task force report for academic medical centers which included recommendations around continuing medical education (CME) that, if followed, could eliminate one out of every three dollars that are invested in accredited medical instruction for America's doctors today. On the basis of three studies, from 1988, 1992, and 2001, the Pew recommendations merely restate their longstanding condemnation of accredited CME: that any financial support from commercial interests—no matter how stringent the restrictions on its use—renders the curriculum irrevocably tainted. Unfortunately, Pew's attempt to point out a problem creates more harm than good. Andrew Rosenberg, Senior Advisor to the CME Coalition stated, "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." What is missing from Pew's report is an analysis of the benefits of physician-industry collaboration, or a middle-ground at all. The vast majority of collaborations between physicians and industry have added considerably to improved patient care. Industry has the resources and expertise to:Discover new therapies and devise medical procedures; Take these discoveries through the painstaking processes of basic research, clinical de...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs