Continuing medical education (CME), the process through which doctors in the UK update their professional skills and knowledge, looks set to undergo a radical change, if new proposals to split funding between doctors and the pharmaceutical industry come into force.
At present, the industry pays for 100% of all the CME programmes it sponsors, which often leads to allegations of bias and undue influence over doctors. By sharing costs equally between doctors and drug companies, it is hoped that a new level of trust will be fostered between the two groups.
Perhaps unusually, the changes have been proposed by the pharmaceutical industry itself. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), the UK’s leading trade association for companies producing prescription medicines, detailed the proposal in a consultation paper sent out to its members earlier this year.
The move is not wholly unselfish from the pharmaceutical company’s point of view – requiring doctors to contribute to the cost of medical courses will mean that those who attend really do want to participate.
In the UK, clinicians are given a training allowance every year by the NHS, and it is likely that this budget will be put towards the cost of medical courses.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) had mooted similar proposals in a report published in February. The ABPI has stated that it wants to take the lead on these ideas rather than have them forced on them under less favourable terms.
After ABPI’s consultation with its members has concluded, the issue will be opened up for wider debate. Any changes to policy that are agreed upon will be written into the ABPI’s new Code, expected some time next year.
Speaking of the consultation, education and skills manager at the ABPI Sarah Jones remarked: “Its aim is to review the way in which medical education has been carried out in the past, to find out if it is still appropriate for today. And if not, what should we be doing differently?”
The response from industry has been positive. GlaxoSmithKline’s UK Medical Director Pim Kon stated: “We will look to work with the ABPI towards a co-funding arrangement – capping what the industry pays, and doctors then pay the rest”.
Physicians, too, are generally pleased with the proposal. The RCP indicated that doctors should do more to take CME under their own control and not rely on the pharmaceutical industry to provide this service for them.
Related: consultation education, consultation paper, continuing medical education