August 2002 • Volume 8 • Number 8 |
The AMA's 1990 adoption of the "Guidelines on Gifts to Physicians From Industry" was arguably the principal move in organized medicine's effort to define what constitutes ethically acceptable behavior by physicians dealing with industry. Those guidelines are at http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/4001-4236.html on the AMA Web site.
The AAFP long ago threw its support behind the AMA guidelines and periodically revisits the issue to keep it fresh in the minds of physicians and industry alike.
Last fall, the Academy took an additional step when it issued its "Principles for Cooperation." The principles reaffirm AAFP's position on the AMA guidelines and its endorsement of standards for commercial support of CME created by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education -- all while seeking industry buy-in to putting patients' interests first. Sixteen pharmaceutical firms signed onto those principles, available at http://www.aafp.org/cooperation/ on AAFP's Web site.
Also last year, the AMA launched a major initiative to educate physicians about the gifts guidelines. Go to http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/amnews/pick_01/prsa0917.htm for more about that initiative.
The issue resurfaced this past June at the AMA House of Delegates annual meeting in Chicago, with delegates adopting a resolution calling for stepped-up efforts to educate medical students and residents about the importance of the gifts issue.
FP Report is published by the
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Copyright © 2002 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.