CME in the News
Senate Considers Industry Influence in Continuing Medical Education
Greater safeguards are needed to protect patients from biased or inaccurate information that might be disseminated in continuing-medical-education courses that are lavishly supported by drug and medical-device manufacturers, an inspector with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told lawmakers at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. Please click here to read the details.
Teaching Doctors—or Selling to Them?
Drugmakers worried about conflicts of interest back away
from their sponsorship of continuing education. Please click here to read the
details.
GSK to provide public with more information
GlaxoSmithKline said Thursday it will, beginning in February
2009, proactively report educational and charitable grants provided to
health-related organizations in the
Call-for-Comment: Proposed Policy to Support
At its July 2008 Board meeting, the ACCME took action to propose a new policy regarding the independence of accredited continuing medical education from commercial interests. The ACCME is seeking comment on this policy before taking any final action on it. In order to give the CME community time to reflect on the wording and implications of this policy, and to integrate it into any comments on the calls-for-comment released in June, the ACCME has extended the call-for-comment deadline on ALL the proposed policies to September 12, 2008. Please click here to read the details.
The End of CME as We Know It
Even before Pfizer's bombshell announcement at the end of
June that it was cutting off support for CME programs run by commercial
providers, 2008 was shaping up to be an ugly year for the medical education
business. To be sure, there were a few infusions of sanity—notably, the
American Medical Association House of Delegates' resounding rejection in June
of a Committee on Ethical and Judicial Affairs proposal that industry funding
be purged from CME. But for the most part, it's been a steady drumbeat of
opposition to industry-supported continuing education. Please click here to
read the details.
Pfizer's Saxton: healthcare professionals must lead CME
Pfizer med ed head Mike Saxton dismissed the notion that the
company was bowing to pressure in its decision to eliminate direct support for
CME programs sponsored by medical education and communication companies
(MECCs). Please click here to read the details.
Pfizer Stops Funding Some Classes for Doctors
Doctors and
pharmaceutical companies have been getting beat up lately for their intimate
ties. Now Pfizer is backing off a bit from one of its connections to medical
practice: funding for physicians’ continuing medical education, or CME,
courses. Please click here to read the details.
AMA Tables Proposal by CEJA to Ban Commercial Support
A recommendation by the American Medical Association’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs to eliminate industry funding from medical education wasn’t approved by the AMA’s Reference Committee on Amendments to Constitution and Bylaws this week, but it could return in another form next year. Please click here to read the details.
AMA ethics board seeks end to commercial CME sponsorship
The American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs [CEJA] is calling for an end to almost all commercial support for professional education. Please click here to read the details.
