title: The Education Review Board: A Mechanism for Managing Potential Conflicts of Interest in Medical Education.
abstract: Concerns about the influence of industry support on medical education, research, and patient care have increased in both medical and political circles. Some academic medical centers, questioning whether industry support of medical education could be appropriate and not a conflict of interest, banned such support. In 2009, a Partners HealthCare System commission concluded that interactions with industry remained important to Partners' charitable academic mission and made recommendations to transparently manage such relationships. An Education Review Board (ERB) was created to oversee and manage all industry support of Partners educational activities.Using a case review method, the ERB developed guidelines to implement the commission's recommendations. A multi-funder rule was established that prohibits industry support from only one company for any Partners educational activity. Within that framework, the ERB established guidelines on industry support of educational conferences, clinical fellowships, and trainees' expenses for attending external educational programs; gifts of textbooks and other educational materials; promotional opportunities associated with Partners educational activities; Partners educational activities under contract with an industry entity; and industry-run programs using Partners resources.Although many changes have resulted from the implementation of the ERB guidelines, the number of industry grants for Partners educational activities has remained relatively stable, and funding for these activities declined only moderately during the first three full calendar years (2011-2013) of ERB oversight. The ERB continually educates both the Partners community and industry about the rationale for its guidelines and its openness to their refinement in response to changes in the external environment.
authors.affiliation: J.F. Borus is Stanley Cobb Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. E.K. Alexander is associate professor, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. B.E. Bierer is professor, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. F.R. Bringhurst is associate professor, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. C. Clark is director, Office for Interactions with Industry, and senior counsel, Office of the General Counsel, Partners HealthCare, Boston, Massachusetts. K.E. Klanica was manager, Office for Interactions with Industry, Partners HealthCare, Boston, Massachusetts, at the time this article was written. She is currently senior associate general counsel, Allina Health, Minneapolis, Minnesota. E.C. Stewart is senior project specialist, Office for Interactions with Industry, Partners HealthCare, Boston, Massachusetts. L.S. Friedman is Anton R. Fried Chair, Department of Medicine, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Newton, Massachusetts, and professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School and Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Jonathan F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Borus
authors.forename: Erik K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Barbara E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Bierer
authors.forename: F Richard
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Bringhurst
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Kaley E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Klanica
authors.forename: Erin C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Lawrence S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Friedman
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000458:organization & administration; D016265:Conflict of Interest / Q000191:economics*; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D037921:Gift Giving / Q000941:ethics*; D019981:Health Care Sector / Q000191:economics* / Q000941:ethics; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D008297:Male; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014481:United States