Among the nation’s best
UF Health Shands Hospital and UF Health Jacksonville rank among the best teaching hospitals in the nation for strength of conflict-of-interest polices, according to the American Medical Student Association. AMSA analyzed more than 200 teaching hospitals on the strength of their conflict-of-interest policies that directly relate to industry marketing and education. Letter grades were used to assess each hospital’s performance in 14 potential areas of conflict of interest, also called “policy domains.” The two UF Health hospitals were among the 35 hospitals to receive an “A.” Some of the policy domains are: gifts from industry; ghostwriting and honorary authorship; existence of COI curriculum for staff and trainees; conflict of interest disclosure; and enforcement and sanctions of policies. In each domain, a hospital was given a score of either 3 for “model policy,” 2 for “good progress toward model policy,” or 1 for “policy is absent or unlikely to have a substantial effect on behavior.” Among the 204 hospitals assessed, 111 of them received a “B,” 21 received a “C” and 27 garnered an incomplete. AMSA said hospitals that scored an “A” had overall excellent policies that served to effectively prevent inappropriate industry marketing influences on medical education and training.
— Jesef Williams