House Bill Wants Pharma To Disclose CME Funding
15 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // November 13th, 2009 // 8:42 am
The health care reform bill passed by the House would force drugmakers to disclose how much they spend on continuing medical education classes for docs, although the Senate version doesn’t include such a requirement, according to The Wall Street Journal. The paper notes this comes as for-profit CME firms experience falling revenue.
The Senate’s Special Committee on Aging, meanwhile, is investigating industry-funded CME, the Journal continues, and John Kamp, who heads the Coalition for Healthcare Communication, wrote Kohl the committee “should consider elimination of certified CME reporting in all versions of health-care reform bills because they are unneeded, redundant and needlessly expensive.” The group is sponsored by the American Association of Advertising Agencies; some agencies have units that run CME classes.
Industry funding of CME is criticized by some for unduly influencing medical practice. “The vast majority of industry-funded CME programs are simply infomercials for the funding company’s latest drug or device,” Dan Carlat, a Massachusetts psychiatrist and an associate professor at Tufts University’s medical school, tells the Journal, noting he owns a CME company that doesn’t take industry money.
Meanwhile, the paper reports that industry funding for CME in general, including seminars held by nonprofit groups and hospitals, dropped 14 percent last year to $1 billion, according to the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, which found industry payments to for-profit CME firms dropped 22 percent last year to $463 million from $594 million a year earlier. The Journal reminds us tht Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline will no longer directly fund for-profit CME firms.
Peter
Jack Kamp is also listed as an attorney representing pharmaceutical companies at Wiley Rein law firm.
Justice in Michigan
Interesting. As I recall, Wiley Rein also represented Wyeth in Wyeth v. Levine. Indeed, Burt Rein was the lead attorney and spokesguy.
done with all that
Sullivan has his a page on Sourcewatch that tracks him and Rockpointe Corporation.
done with all that
Sullivan has a page on Sourcewatch that tracks him and Rockpointe Corporation.
usual suspects
Good dot connecting–Sullivan and Rockpointe also “associated” with Peter Pitts’ CMPI. So we have the usual drugwinks.
Peter
Thanks for the link to Sourcewatch. Interesting site.
done with all that
So John Kamp’s bio says that his practice areas are the FDA as well as advertising. I guess the confluence of those two areas is continuing medical education?
Condor
HILARIOUS, done with all that!
Ding!
Angela Popty
thats a lot of cash
Former Pharma Marketing Director
Full disclosure…..
Let’s hope we are approaching the time when we can see less activity aimed at “jockeying” for market share, which this activity clearly is. Let’s face it, when Pharma puts money into anything they expect a return, they have to it is the business, if they don’t their share holders will cry foul! Nothing wrong with that. But it isn’t fair, because the majority of patients, current patients, potential patients etc, do not realize that this is a “for profit” industry. The lines get blurry because although most know that the drugs are regulated through the FDA, they do not realize how the entire system has been so corrupted to squeeze profits and market share points out of the system. Then astonishingly, those who corrupted the system, point to the “corrupted” system and say “see I told you so, Government can’t be trusted”. To me this is the bigger terrorist threat facing us right now.
We need to fix these things and we need to be transparent. There will still be lots of money to be made and jobs in the system for all of us.
There have been just too many “scandals”. It is absolutely important to each and everyone one of us that integrity be restored to the system. We have much important work ahead of us.
Robert
Transparency is always a good thing, especially in the health care industry. I’m sure big pharma will fight back with a vengeance.
kim steller
This Sullivan guy is awash in cash.
talbot
To Former Pharma Marketing Director: Amen
patrons99
It’s not just CME. So-called medical practice guidelines are also hopelessly corrupted.
Keep it Simple
Docs (be they MD or PhD)given two options: disclose or register as lobbyist.