University of Minnesota Tightens Conflicts Rules
10 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // August 5th, 2010 // 10:11 am
Joining a small, but growing list of academic institutions, the University of Minnesota has adopted new rules governing conflicts of interest for its med school employees, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes. The ethics policy overhaul is part of a university-wide effort, but the new rules are tougher for faculty and staff at the Academic Health Center, which includes the schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and colleges of Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine.
“The feeling was that the bar needed to be higher for people who come in clinical contact with patients and others,” Frank Cerra, the U’s senior vp for health sciences, tells the paper. “I think it’s a good policy.” The move comes a year after the med school was the target of a congressional inquiry into a $1.2 million consulting arrangement between a spine surgeon and Medtronic.
Academic Health Center employees must report financial interests to the university annually, as well as executive positions and board memberships, the paper notes. The threshold for triggering a review by an internal committee is $5,000 at the Academic Health Center, compared with $10,000 for others at the university (here is the new policy).
More universities are adopting such policies in the wake of controversy over the extent to which financial ties between faculty and drug and device makers may influence research or medical practice (see two recent examples). However, the issue, which has been the focus of an ongoing investigation by the US Senate Finance Committee, has rubbed some doctors the wrong way. Some docs at the University of Wisconsin hate their policy (see this).
The rules state that covered employees - faculty and staff - can attend industry-sponsored education and training events, college deans will determine whether drug or device makers pay their expenses to attend the events. The university will accept industry funding for continuing education events held on campus, but will retain control of the content.
Covered employees may give presentations at sales and marketing events sponsored by drug and device makers, but only if the info is “evidence-based” and represents their “independent views.” And various goodies, such as meals, entertainment and gifts, such as coffee mugs and pens, are banned.
Justice in MI
How about them Golden Gophers!
pharmavet
If you go to any medical convention these days, you’ll notice a sign in front of the Pharma booth where they are making made-to-order ice cream sundaes. The sign forbids any Minnesota physician from taking the ice cream, as that might be considered an inducement under MN law.
I guess that the ice cream police were insufficient, not that they have to tighten the law.
Kroger Meat Man
Various meat suppliers send their reps to see me in the meat department. They give me samples of bacon and I put the samples out front.
Upon reflection, I feel I may have been influenced.
We need some oversight to straighten this mess out.
Salmon
Kroger
Do you make and extra $180K a year for doing it like some psychiatrists?
Do your customers rely on you to wade through scientific and medical information so you can make a decision on whether the bacon could kill them if not used appropriately?
Do your customers often have no idea what bacon is or what it does for them?
Confused
180k is 5% of his total income how compromised would you be for a extra 5% what a joke
pharmavet
Props to Krogers. When I was a poor starving grad student, each week I went to the 24 hour Krogers, where they slashed the meat prices for quick sale as the meat approached expiration date. It may have looked a little brown around edges, but tasted fine after I nuked it on the grill.
Kroger Meat Man
if my scrapple improved lives or helped eliminate horrible diseases perhaps I would get paid more and people would be interested…doesn’t change the fact that I get influenced on what product I put out, yet no one cares-becasue there is no money in it and without that no one would care.
Try to get Ed to run a pork blog and see who, besides PV (thrashing reps at every turn) would post.
Salmon
Maybe you should read The Jungle and what went on during the same time period when butchers boycotted selling meat from packers because it was too expensive for their customers.
Besides I’m sure that meatpackers will say it’s the other white meat and it’s great for your health.
Kroger Meat Man
ah, Upton Sinclair…brings me back to Mrs. Perkins in 9th grade…
pharmavet
Don’t know how we got on this topic, but I’ll defend the meatpacking industry here. When I was a post-doc I had to visit a local slaughterhouse weekly to obtain fresh cow’s blood to prepare erythrocytes for my liver perfusion experiments. It was absolutely spotless, spic and span clean at every turn. It’s fair to say that we’ve come a long way from the days of Sinclair andthe conditions he described.