UC-Davis Expands Ban on Medical Vendors’ Gifts
UC-Davis officials on Monday announced that they have expanded a ban on drug industry gifts to include any item from any vendor that markets its goods to UC-Davis' health system, the Sacramento Bee reports.
UC-Davis adopted the ban in November 2006 but decided to wait until last Sunday to institute it. Since November, the university's faculty, physician and hospital leaders determined the ban should prohibit all products, including:
- Knee replacement parts;
- Heart catheters;
- Intravenous drug pumps; and
- Radiation machines for cancer patients.
Medical device companies that frequently provide technical assistance to surgeons in the operating room also will be subject to the ban, unless the assistance is necessary for patient care and approved by UC-Davis, Claire Pomeroy, vice chancellor and dean of the UC-Davis School of Medicine, said.
Discounts on products that already have been purchased will be allowed, as well as prizes or awards from competitive research grants. Vendors also will be allowed to offer refreshment training sessions on products already purchased by the health system.
Yale, Stanford, UCLA, the University of Pennsylvania and Kaiser Permanente Northern California have similar expanded policies.
Pomeroy said additional changes to the center's ethics policies are possible (Griffith, Sacramento Bee, 7/3). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.