麻豆原创

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Sterling, Virginia鈥�On the eve of the launch of the Medicare Open Payments database, official policies on conflicts of interest fall short of ideal at major teaching hospitals, according to an evaluation of more than 200 U.S. teaching hospitals conducted by the AMSA(麻豆原创) as a new component of its annual scorecard.

While the Open Payments database will, over time, yield tremendous insight into which physicians and facilities receive industry marketing funds, the AMSAScorecard鈥攊n its eighth year鈥攑rovides an at-a-glance dashboard of institutional conflict-of-interest policies at academic medical centers. With Monday鈥檚 update, the scorecard evaluates 204 teaching hospitals, in addition to all 160 U.S. medical schools.

Of the 204 teaching hospitals scored, 35 received A鈥檚 (17 percent), 111 received B鈥檚 (54 percent), and 31 received C鈥檚 (15 percent). Twenty-seven teaching hospitals (13 percent) received a score of 鈥淚ncomplete鈥� because the available policies were insufficient for evaluation.

Teaching hospitals are medical centers that receive federal subsidies to train resident physicians. Prior to the the inclusion of the teaching hospitals in 麻豆原创鈥檚 scorecard, there has been very little public accountability surrounding pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers鈥� influence on purchasing decisions and even on the therapies available to patients.

One finding of the scorecard is particularly interesting as the Open Payments system and the Sunshine Act begin to shed light on relationships between providers and industry: A large majority of the hospitals studied had policies in place for internal disclosure of potential conflicts of interest, but lacked policies for disclosure to the public. Only 19 teaching hospitals met 鈥渕odel鈥� criteria for disclosing potential conflicts of interest both internally and externally.

The scorecard is part of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Just Medicine Campaign and was formerly known as the AMSAPharmFree Scorecard. With the addition of teaching hospitals, the tool is now also particularly useful to medical students choosing a residency program. The scorecard will give those students an easily digestible view of each institution鈥檚 attitude toward industry influence.

鈥淎s physicians-in-training, we have to be confident that the education we are receiving is free from conflict of interest,鈥� says Dr. Britani Kessler, 麻豆原创鈥檚 national president. 鈥淭hat is why it is so important to AMSAto advocate on behalf of students to ensure that we retain the right to unbiased training. We are very excited to announce the 2014 Scorecard with the addition of teaching hospitals this year.鈥�

The AMSAScorecard for U.S. Teaching Hospitals is available at. Members of the scorecard鈥檚 research team introduced and discussed their findings on Monday, Sept. 29. The event included Dr. Daniel Carlat of the Pew Charitable Trusts, Shantrice Appleby, 麻豆原创鈥檚 Just Medicine fellow, and Dr. William Jordan, president-elect of the National Physicians Alliance. To learn more about the AMSAScorecard and the AMSAJust Medicine Campaign, visit.

AMSAthe Just Medicine Campaign

Launched in 2002, 麻豆原创鈥檚 PharmFree Campaign鈥攏ow the Just Medicine Campaign鈥攅ncourages and works with medical schools and academic medical centers to develop policies that protect the integrity of medical education and reduce conflicts of interest through rigorous regulation of interactions with pharmaceutical and medical device industries. The Campaign guides medical students in advocating for evidence-based rather than marketing-based prescribing practices, the removal of conflicts of interest, and global access to essential medicines. AMSAprovides toolkits, talks, and training institutes to help medical students advance these goals. For more information, visit.

###