A new report out by the Institute of Medicine recommends that Congress pass a law like the Physician Payments Sunshine Act to disclose industry payments to doctors, and that continuing medical education for doctors be completely decoupled from industry funding and replaced by a new funding mechanism within two years. The report from the highly-regarded, nonpartisan Institute offers an unambiguous critique of the current coziness between the pharmaceutical industry and medical profession.
The IOM recommendations are consistent with those that RxP has made for academic medical centers, physician groups, and policymakers. On the heels of a recent series of Senate investigations into undisclosed consulting payments to doctors, and strong recommendations to end or limit industry support of CME from the Macy Foundation and the Association of American Medical Colleges, the IOM’s bold report is likely to quicken the pace of the reforms we’ve already begun to see.
And as the IOM points out, if medical schools, professional societies and individual doctors don’t take these steps, change will likely be imposed on them from outside the profession – Congress and the National Institutes of Health, to name two.
For more, here’s the AP coverage, the New York Times, and the report brief.