FP Report -- 1999 Post-Assembly Edition
Proprietary practices paper available
The Academy has compiled statements it supports related to proprietary practices, and a summary is available on request. The Congress of Delegates received the document during its Sept. 14-16 meeting in Orlando, Fla.
The document begins with the 20-page summary and proceeds with 143 pages of attachments, including statements from the AAFP, AMA, FDA, Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, and federal laws and regulations.
The summary tells where the AAFP stands on issues such as direct-to-consumer ads, referrals to entities in which physicians have an ownership interest and selling products not related to health in physician offices.
One of the attachments -- "Gifts to Physicians from Industry" from the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs -- was developed to prevent abuses by pharmaceutical organizations in their relationship with physicians. The AAFP adopted the same guidelines, said Norman Kahn, M.D., AAFP vice president for education and science.
"These guidelines help prevent companies from currying favor with physicians," said Kahn. "And they help a physician avoid promoting a particular product over another because of pressure from a company."
Kahn said he talked with several representatives from pharmaceutical companies over the summer, and they asked AAFP and other medical specialty societies to remind their members about the guidelines. "This issue is heating up again, and we want to be sure everyone involved understands the ethical implications," Kahn said. "We agreed to share in the responsibility of educating both companies and physicians about what these guidelines are and why they exist."
You can order a copy of the document, "AAFP Policies and Positions Related to Proprietary Practices," the 20-page summary, or attachments including "Gifts to Physicians from Industry" by calling Carolyn Rackers in the AAFP Division of CME at (800) 274-2237.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1999 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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