This weeks issue if the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) reads like an expose. At least 3 of the research articles do. So exciting. I don't want medicine, my field, to be ethically unsavory, but it is sometimes. It makes me proud to see that it sometimes polices itself and that such information is published in a high profile journal. The first article is entitled "Patient Advocacy Organizations, Industry Funding and Conflict of Interest" by Susanna Rose of the Cleveland Clinic along with colleagues of hers from the University of Chicago. It turns out that 67% of patient advocacy organizations such as the American Diabetic Association, the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation and March of Dimes, organizations that support patients with various diseases, receive support from industry. Specifically "industry" means organizations that make money by selling products related to health. More than one in 10 of these organizations received over half of t...
The cost of health care in the US is higher than anywhere else in the world, and yet we are not healthier than our peer nations. In fact, in terms of such measures as infant mortality and life span, we don't measure up. Why is this? Many people involved in providing or receiving care have some pretty good ideas about what costs so much, and what we can do to reduce costs and improve quality. Sharing these stories is an important step in creating affordable universal health care.