ACCME, Addicted to Pharma Money, Decides It Will Continue to Accept Pharma Money

(MoneyWatch)  The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education said it decided against a ban on company funded CME, according to MM&M. The decision is thunderingly predictable, because CME providers are simply not in a financial position to reject company funded CME even if they wanted to. MM&M:

The ACCME had posed a ban as one possible solution to concerns about the independence of CME from industry influence and issued a call for comment. Having thought about it, the accrediting body's board said it feels its Standards of Commercial Support are an adequate safeguard against commercial bias.

A look at page 6 of ACCME's most recent annual report shows that CME providers' total income was $2.5 billion. Of that, $1.2 billion is "commercial support" and $274 million is "advertising and exhibits," another type of commercial support. Without a new funding base, CME providers just can't do anything but accept pharma money. It's been that way for a while.

Readers will notice we're looking at the 2007 report. That's because the 2008 report isn't available yet.