Transparency has its critics
January 17, 2014
Dr. Leana Wen started a campaign among health care professionals, encouraging them to voluntarily pledge to always disclose any potential conflict of interests (e.g. payments from pharmaceutical companies). It is interesting to note that while the campaign is not lobbying for regulatory reform, Dr. Wen has received hostile responses from her colleagues. Someone who is too busy or is simply opposed to personally revealing potential conflicts of interests could simply choose not to participate -- so, why the animosity?
Dr. Wen addresses some of the arguments that have been put forth, including the paternalistic view that patients basically "can't handle the truth." We agree with her that it "should be up to the patients to decide what is relevant to them." Indeed, we look forward to when CMS will enable greater transparency regarding a physicians' financial relationships.