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Print Edition StoriesWednesday, July 21, 2010
Harvard tightens gift and travel rules for doctors
By Mass High Tech Staff
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At a time when there are calls for Massachusetts to repeal its ban on gifts and other gratuities from corporations to physicians, Harvard Medical School today issued new rules on its own, targeting potential conflicts of interest for its 11,000 faculty members, who represent many of the key medical professionals at Boston-area hospitals.
Medical school dean Jeffrey S. Flier has accepted the guidelines recommended by the Faculty of Medicine Committee on Conflicts of Interest and Commitment, and plans to incorporate the rules into the conflict of interest policy over the next year. The medical school committee was a subset of a universitywide conflict of interest rules committee. Several of the new rules are consistent with the state’s gift ban law.
Among the recommended changes are a prohibition of all personal gifts, travel or meals from industry sources, other than travel and meals in the course of allowed activities, and a ban on faculty participation in industry speakers bureaus, and prohibition of compensation for a speaking engagement that “limits the faculty member’s intellectual independence in presenting content.”
Earlier this month, the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted to repeal the gift ban in a move supporters said would help boost business in the Bay State.
The new guidelines were listed in a press release on the medical school’s website. Go here to see the full list.
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