• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

AMA rejects soft take on physician-pharma relationship

Compliance Monitor, June 16, 2004

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Compliance Monitor!

The American Medical Association (AMA) rejected a proposal that would have softened the group's stance on pharmaceutical industry "freebies" to providers, including all-expense-paid trips for physicians to attend industry-sponsored educational conferences, according to a June 14 Associated Press report.

The proposal was offered by Peter Lavine, MD, an orthopedic surgeon from Washington, DC, who argued that physicians deserve to be compensated for attending these conferences, where they often learn crucial information about new medical equipment and procedures.

It doesn't make ethical sense to allow reimbursement for tuition, "but not hotels," he said June 13 during a hearing on his proposal, the Associated Press reported. "The policy is a mess."

Lavine said many physicians ignore the existing policy, which says physicians should only accept gifts that have some direct benefit to patients and discourages agreeing to free trips, hotel accommodations, and other personal expenses for attending conferences, the Associated Press reported.

But several other doctors at the hearing said physicians are bombarded with pressure from drug companies marketing their products and that the proposal would increase the chances for them to be unduly influenced.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Compliance Monitor!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive