The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 News
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Psoriatic Arthritis Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
    • Interprofessional Perspective
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
      • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / Industry Support & Quality Initiatives

Industry Support & Quality Initiatives

July 1, 2010 • By Kenneth Saag, MD, MSc, Gary Bryant, MD, Brian Feldman, MD, MSc, David Felson, MD, Liana Fraenkel, MD, MPH, Salahuddin Kazi, MBBS, and Kristen McNiff, MPH

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF

In recent years, the ACR Board, committees, and staff have engaged in many discussions about industry funding of ACR activities and the potential for conflicts of interest. Similar discussions have been echoing throughout organized medicine. Clearly, this is an issue with significant and widespread implications for medical societies, affecting areas such as direct support, scientific meetings, Continuing Medical Education activities, and program development.

You Might Also Like
  • What You See Is What You Get: Transparency in Industry relationships
  • Industry Ties Common among Nonprofit Patient Advocacy Groups
  • Physician–Industry Relationships
Explore This Issue
July 2010

In her “President’s Perspective” column in the July 2009 issue of The Rheumatologist, Sherine Gabriel, MD, provided an overview of industry support of ACR activity and issues related to conflicts of interest.1 Since then, the debate and relevant literature has expanded considerably (e.g., a recently published systematic review regarding patient attitudes, beliefs, and potential decision making related to physicians’ financial ties).2 In this editorial, we will focus on the issues that most directly affect activities of the ACR Committee on Quality of Care (QOC) and provide context for recent board-approved changes to ACR policies that direct quality efforts.

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Ensuring Integrity

The QOC and its subcommittees have unique issues related to industry funding and the potential for influence, due to the committee’s work developing classification and response criteria, practice guidelines, and quality measures. Investment in these initiatives is only worthwhile if the resulting products are read, accepted, and implemented. One factor determining uptake is whether the final publication is considered trustworthy. Trustworthiness results from products that are perceived to be evidence based, systematically developed by diverse experts, transparent, and, of course, free from bias. The source of funding is a significant factor. The ACR Policy on Corporate Relationships has prohibited direct industry support of QOC activities, including ACR-developed guidelines and criteria. ACR policies have not been clear, however, regarding industry support for those guidelines, criteria, or measures that are developed externally and brought to the ACR for approval consideration. The ACR reviews these externally developed documents when requested to, recognizing that quality initiatives led by others can be worthy of ACR support for dissemination and adoption. This arrangement can be mutually beneficial, helping the authors (whether they are other professional societies or ACR members) achieve wide recognition and advancing the ACR’s mission.

The ACR’s approval policies are intended to set clear expectations, maximize the potential for ACR approval of evidence-based and meaningful publications, and ensure the trustworthiness of any product with the ACR name on it. At their May 2010 meeting, the ACR board of directors approved changes to the Policy on Corporate Relationships. The policy now states that the ACR will not review for approval any criteria, guidelines, measures, or other quality-related documents developed with industry funding. This means that industry funding cannot be used to support any component of the process, including budget items unrelated to the investigators’ or committee members’ salary support (e.g., literature reviews, meetings, participant stipends). Consistent with the rest of the policy, “industry” is defined as pharmaceutical or biotech organizations.

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Conflicts of Interest in a Complex Age

This change ensures that products approved for endorsement by the ACR are held to the same standards as ACR-developed products and helps set appropriate expectations among developers. Still, this change addresses only the tip of the iceberg of an evolving and extremely challenging issue. We are still learning whether and where industry involvement and “bias-free expertise” can comfortably intersect. It is inherent in the current healthcare system that many clinical experts have ties to industry. Industry funds a large portion of the clinical trials that form the evidence for evidence-based initiatives.

Pages: 1 2 | Single Page

Filed Under: Legislation & Advocacy, Practice Management, Professional Topics, Quality Assurance/Improvement Tagged With: ACR News, Conflict of interest, IndustryIssue: July 2010

You Might Also Like:
  • What You See Is What You Get: Transparency in Industry relationships
  • Industry Ties Common among Nonprofit Patient Advocacy Groups
  • Physician–Industry Relationships
  • Registries and Rheumatology Quality

Rheumatology Research Foundation

The Foundation is the largest private funding source for rheumatology research and training in the U.S.

Learn more »

Meeting Abstracts

Browse and search abstracts from the ACR Convergence and ACR/ARP Annual Meetings going back to 2012.

Visit the Abstracts site »

American College of Rheumatology

Visit the official website for the American College of Rheumatology.

Visit the ACR »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2022 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)