This week the Cleveland Clinic has taken the step to post faculties outside income and equity positions in drug and device companies. According to ABC News and Philadelphia Inquirer Penn, Wisconsin and Duke will soon be taking similar measures.
Over time, it came to our attention that we did not want patients to be concerned that we were making decisions on the basis of something other than what was in their ultimate best interest," said Dr. Toby Cosgrove, CEO of the Cleveland Clinic. "Since many of us have relationships with industry to help foster new and improved products and drugs, we thought we could eliminate potential conflicts of interest by being absolutely transparent about those issues."
"One hundred percent of our 1,800 physicians gave us disclosures, and we have gone back and checked with them to make sure all are correct."
As Dr. Cosgrove sees it, potential conflicts of interest need to be managed, not automatically eliminated, because working with industry encourages innovation by the clinic and its doctors. He has even made “innovation management” part of the committee’s official title: the Cleveland Clinic Innovation Management and Conflict of Interest Committee.
Mainly, he says, the Cleveland Clinic is committed to openness in all of its dealings. “We’re trying to be about transparency in everything we do,” he said, pointing to some of the clinic’s other efforts in publishing data on the outcomes of its care or giving patients easier access to their medical records.
New York Times : Cleveland Clinic Discloses Doctors’ Ties to Industry
ABC News: Should Docs Disclose Drug Company Ties?
Philadelphia Inquirer: Penn Medicine to Disclose Doctors’ Drug Ties
Cleveland Clinic: Press Release
So I tried the Cleveland Clinic website and looked up Dr. Steven Nissen who has been talked about as the next FDA Commissioner and this is what I got:
Dr. Nissen reports that he does not receive payments from industry and has the companies donate all honoraria or consulting fees directly to non-profit organizations so that he receives neither income nor a tax deduction.