A new report released by the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) outlined new efforts by the group to protect the integrity of the continuing medical education doctors are required to take. The report, “Management of Relationships With the Health Care/Pharmaceutical Industry,” is an update to a 2013 report, “The CFPC’s Relationship With the Health Care/Pharmaceutical Industry.”
One of the changes outlined in the report is that Canadian family doctors are no longer able to earn educational credits for attending dinners where pharmaceutical companies wine and dine physicians at upscale restaurants.
Interestingly, the report does not ban the dinners outright. Doctors can still opt to attend the dinners, but they cannot receive educational credits for being there.
“Our view is that (the dinners) are basically marketing evenings,” said Dr. Jeff Sisler, who oversees medical education programming for the College. “We’re trying in that decision to discourage members from that kind of learning, and remind them that it is not viewed by the College as appropriate continuing professional development.”
Other Changes Found in the Report
Pharmaceutical companies are still able to give money to groups that put on educational events, though there are new restrictions in the Report, including that pharmaceutical companies are not able to select a speaker for the event or help develop the presentation at all.
Dr. Sisler said the College will continue to support “a mixed model” of funding for professional development. “There is no direction or intent at the moment to move to a time when pharma support is not permitted period. That isn’t the way things are moving at the moment,” he said.
Additionally the call for abstracts for the 2019 Family Medicine Forum (FMF) – billed as Canada’s premier family medicine conference – will ask presenters to disclose further all conflicts of interest and affiliations, ask speakers to declare how they plan to mitigate their conflicts of interest, and confirm that all slide content is developed by a physician.
At this year’s FMF, the CFPC will: restrict all commercial activity to the Exhibit Hall and other non-educational areas, explore new revenue streams (such as live streaming) to mitigate potential revenue losses, seek delegate feedback about preferences regarding maintaining a managed relationship with the health care/pharmaceutical industry, collect data on the outcomes of the new health care/pharmaceutical industry rules and guidelines, and seek feedback on all sessions and conflict of interest compliance to monitor and enhance quality.