National investigative group ProPublica reports that faculty at several medical schools across the United States were paid by pharmaceutical companies to give promotional talks — often in violation of the schools’ policies.
Among the schools featured were the University of Miami. At UM, policy dictates that faculty members are allowed to give paid talks, but must disclose any outside income on a public website.
According to ProPublica, more than a dozen doctors from the university did not accurately report their earnings. In some cases, the numbers listed on the website were smaller than the figures reported by the pharmaceutical companies. In one case, one doctor received $17,000 from a company, but no mention of it was made on the UM site.
According to the report:
“Whether they’re purposely hiding information from us, I have no way of telling,” said Dr. Jorge Guerra, vice president for clinical affairs at the University of Miami medical school.
Guerra said the school is already correcting the omissions in the online disclosures and has referred some physicians for possible disciplinary action.
