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Cleveland Clinic, Penn Medicine to post physician ties to pharma companies

Pharma Compliance Alert, December 10, 2008

Cleveland Clinic and the University of Pennsylvania are taking steps toward transparency regarding physicians’ ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

According to a press release, Cleveland Clinic is posting information online for all 1,800 of its physicians and scientists, detailing their education, professional experience, specialties, and ties to industry. The postings will name the companies with which they collaborate, and identify whether they have equity, the right to royalties, a fiduciary position, or a consulting relationship that pays $5,000 or more per year.

The Cleveland Clinic evaluates and approves relationships between its physicians and the pharmaceutical industry using its conflict-of-interest process.

The University of Pennsylvania and its health system, known collectively as Penn Health, plan to launch a Web site in the spring that will contain searchable information on all outside activities of its doctors and scientists, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer article.

The Web site is still in the planning stages and would expand Penn’s current policy, which bans staff from accepting gifts, meals, and free drug samples from pharmaceutical companies.

Ties between the pharmaceutical industry and physicians have come under a great deal of scrutiny recently. Last year, lawmakers introduced a bill that would require medical device and pharmaceutical companies to disclose all payments to physicians. The bill is still under consideration.

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