Suppose you're a physician at a major research hospital and you accept money from a manufacturer to develop your idea for a new biomedical device that could improve outcomes for patients. Does that make you guilty of conflict of interest? That's the kind of question that will be examined in detail today during a national conference being held at the Cleveland Clinic. Guy Chisolm, who chairs of the Clinic's Conflict of Interest Committee, says his own hospital staff is coming to grips with the issue.
Guy Chisolm: We're having just incredible cooperation from all of our doctors and scientists here in educating themselves about conflicts of interest, in disclosing their conflicts of interest, in helping the committee come to management or avoidance when that comes up.
Among the healthcare field policymakers who'll be attending the conference are representatives from Stanford, Harvard and the National Institutes of Health, as well as drug manufacturers and the New England Journal of Medicine. Karen Schaefer, 90.3.