What some docs are saying about the new Standards
In a post that begins, “CME has become tainted,” DB’s Medical Rants–a physician-run blog–has lots to say about the new ACCME Standards for Commercial Support:
- This rule appears solid on surface review. The problem will be in finding experts without conflict of interest. In many fields, virtually all the experts receive some pharmaceutical support (often for drug trials).
I suspect that we will see a new specialty arise in CME. Those who have no financial ties will become the truth arbiters. And again on surface review this seems logical.
I worry that these new experts will have another axe to grind. None of us is without bias. Those who accept no pharmaceutical moneys (and I am included here) may have an anti-pharmaceutical company bias. They may tend towards therapeutic nihilism (at least until the evidence is overwhelming).
