Stanford University School of Medicine has announced it will prohibit “new commercial funding for specific CME courses or programs” as of September 1, 2008.
After September 1, industry funds for CME must go through Stanford’s Office of Continuing Medical Education, and cannot be designated for a particular course or program, according to a Stanford newsletter. Companies may only designate funding for general categories, such as medical, pediatric and surgical specialties, diagnostic and imaging technologies and disciplines, and heath policy and disease prevention, said the newsletter.
Stanford’s decision comes at the behest of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), who urged all medical schools and teaching hospitals to prohibit direct CME sponsorship last June. The AAMC recommended that schools and hospitals establish a central CME office for the coordination of industry funds, and also outlined new strictures on gifts for physicians, and detailing practices.
The New York Times reported on August 26 that Stanford would become the sixth major medical school to adopt this CME funding policy, joining the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the University of Colorado, the University of Kansas Medical Center and the University of California Davis School of Medicine.
