The third time may be the charm for some things, but not for the American Medical Association’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, whose report on commercial support was yet again sent back to the drawing board after a third request that AMA adopt its funding recommendations was turned down at a House of Delegates meeting earlier this month.

The report recommended that CME providers be banned from accepting financial support from any sources other than those “that have no direct financial interest in a physician’s clinical recommendations,” with a few exceptions. In June, one of the objections that got the report sent back for clarification was its recommendation that it categorize CME funding practices as either “ethically preferable” or “ethically permissible”; a proposal released last year, which also got the boot, called for a ban on all commercial support for CME.

In a statement, AMA board chairwoman Rebecca Patchin, MD, said CEJA will re-examine the issue and present a revised report at a later meeting. In the meantime, providers can follow AMA’s existing ethical policy that governs physician relationships with the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries.

For more:
Policy and Medicine Blog: AMA CEJA 2009: Report Financial Relationships with Industry in Continuing Medical Education Referred Back to Committee for the Third Time by AMA House of Delegates

AMA Again Rejects CEJA Report (MM June 2009)

American Medical Association tables proposal to eliminate pharmaceutical industry funding of CME (MM June 2008)