August 16, 2007
Relationship Between Doctors' CMEs and Drug/Device Industry May Be Investigated
The relationship between doctors' continuing medical education and the drug and medical device industry which often underwrites that education may come under Congressional scrutiny soon. According to a Wall St. Journal report, "The senators want to know whether the billion dollars a year the drug and device industries are pouring into CME winds up making doctors prescribe too many expensive, brand-name medicines and devices. One of the guys they’re asking is Murray Kopelow, the M.D. who runs the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, which watches over more than 700 CME providers."
The conflict comes when what gets taught in these industry funded continuing education courses is tends to be what the industries themselves want doctors to learn so that the industries can put more money in their own coffers. This is the basis for curriculum bias.
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