Professional Medical Organizations Adopt New Ethics Codes

In the same vein as the Healthcare Reform legislation’s vendor-providing reporting requirements known as the “sunshine law,” several leading professional medical organizations have adopted the new ethics codes, including: the American College of Physicians, the American College of Cardiology, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The ethical codes require the professional organizations to publicly post any industry support the group receives, decline industry funding for developing medical practice guidelines, disclose financial ties that leaders and board members have with companies, and ban company or product names and logos form pens, bags and other gifts at conferences. The goal of the ethical codes is to make financial ties more transparent.

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