ERB to Review Interactions with Industry
Partners has long valued its relationships with industry and the benefits that they bring to medical education, research and patient care. Over the past three years, Partners has worked to find an appropriate balance that allows these benefits to be preserved while addressing concerns about the appearance of conflict of interest from these collaborations. System-wide, Partners has refined and tightened its policies in this area, and one aspect of this work focuses on interaction with industry for educational purposes.
Partners created the Education Review Board (ERB) last year to review all interactions with industry to support Partners educational programs, such as industry support for fellowships, grand rounds or continuing medical education. The ERB is supported by the new Partners Office for Interactions with Industry (OII) under the direction of Christopher Clark, JD.
“We’re working to set reasonable guidelines that meet the overarching changes in policy,” said BWH Director of Medical Education Jonathan Borus, MD, who co-chairs the ERB with Newton-Wellesley Hospital Chair of Medicine Lawrence Friedman, MD. “It’s a rolling process, and people should address any questions to the ERB staff in OII.”
The ERB will review proposals for industry support of any Partners educational program, regardless of dollar level and regardless of whether the money is actually received by a Partners institution or by a third party, such as an accreditor institution like Harvard Medical School. Under Partners policy, it is no longer allowable to enter into a new industry-funded arrangement where a single company supports a Partners educational program.
The ERB will ensure that all industry support of educational programs meets these requirements:
funding for a specific program or activity must come from more than one company;
any continuing medical education program that involves conferences or lectures, or other forms of presentations, must meet Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education or comparable standards (as determined by the ERB), whether for CME credit or not;
a more rigorous process to screen potential conflicts of interest and monitor content of programs will be applied.
Watch for additional articles in Clinical & Research News on interacting with industry. E-mail the Office for Interactions with Industry at PHSOII@partners.org with any questions.