According to the Sacramento Bee, the University of California at Davis is thinking about joining Stanford and Yale in imposing "strict limits on meals and on payments for doctors to attend meetings or participate in online medical education classes." From the article:
- The medical center's Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, which oversees the purchase of drugs and devices for the health system, voted last week to send three recommendations to the medical center's executive committee for consideration:
• A ban on all gifts, free meals, payment for travel time or time spent at meetings, and payment from drug or medical device companies for participation in online medical education programs.
• An end to the system that allows pharmaceutical sales representatives to give doctors free drug samples for patients. The former arrangement would be replaced with a voucher system to benefit low-income patients.
• The exclusion of any medical professional with ties to drug or device manufacturers from hospital and medical group committees that oversee the purchase of drugs or medical devices.
They also have some possible policies to control other conflicts of interest.
