Recently, the Archives of Internal Medicine published a report regarding conflicts of interest in cardiovascular practice guidelines. As revealed in this report, a majority of doctors who helped draft these guidelines received payments from drug and device companies, and many physicians were stockholders in these companies. Medtronic was noted as a leading example, having conflicts of interest when it came to seven of the practice guidelines.
Medtronic defended their action on the grounds that payments were made so that doctors could teach other doctors about these devices that the company invented. This is an old excuse and in my opinion these are not legitimate business expenses. At best they are marketing costs.
Most industries today are improving the quality of their products while lowering costs to the consumer. Look at the price of computers, televisions, and cell phones. Why are medical device companies not keeping pace with this trend?
My theory is they have invested in Washington lobbyists to prevent normal marketplace interaction that would lead to products being sold based on their value rather than relationships. The losers are those who pay for care, and the patients who receive that care.
Federal policy makers need to focus their efforts on determining how to curtail the abusive actions of the medical device industry. We all need to be focusing on transparency and lower healthcare costs in this country. We cannot allow one sector to drive up prices or to encourage physicians to use a device even if it is not medically needed or if there is an equally effective, lower cost approach.
An editorial accompanying the study, written by Dr. Steven Nissen, chair of the cardiovascular medicine department at the Cleveland Clinic, said the study raises "troubling concerns that must be urgently addressed." He went on to say that in order for guidelines to be truly independent and respected, even the appearance of impropriety must be avoided.
How long are we going to allow this to continue?
Ed Howe blogs regularly at Action for Better Healthcare.