MINNEAPOLIS, October 1, 2008 - A task force at the University of Minnesota Medical School is calling for new limits on relationships between doctors and medical companies.

University of Minnesota Medical School Dean Deborah Powell, M.D., commissioned the task force in the fall of 2007 to address concerns about conflicts of interest. The task force recommendations are still in draft form but have been sent to the medical school community for comment.

The Minnesota Daily and MPR both published stories about the recommendations Tuesday. MPR even posted them online. Powell has declined to comment until the reports recommendations are finalized. 

The task force's recommendations include

• Prohibiting the use of industry money to fund continuing medical education
• Prohibiting faculty and students from receiving gifts from medical companies
• Requiring doctors to disclose relationships with drug companies before prescribing a drug produced by that company
• Requiring physicians to report any financial involvement with a medical company. The current threshold is $10,000.
• Create a Web page listing all conflicts of interest

• Prohibiting the following:

• Gifts of any kind, including food, medical devices, and unrestricted grants
• Payments based on or related to an employee’s consideration of or decision to use or recommend a particular device, implant, pharmaceutical, or other  product for a patient
• Payments based on referrals that generate business for the commercial company
• Payments for switching use, whereby the health professional changes a patient’s drug prescription or device from a competing product to the commercial company’s product
• Compensation provided in conjunction with or in support of a commercial company’s marketing and sales activities, such as taking  part in speakers bureaus, listening to presentations, or attending sales or marketing presentations

To read the draft report, which was posted by MPR, click here.