Toward Evidence-Based Conflicts of Interest Training for Physician-Investigators

29 Pages Posted: 14 Aug 2012 Last revised: 18 Sep 2012

See all articles by Kate Greenwood

Kate Greenwood

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Carl H. Coleman

Seton Hall Law School

Kathleen Boozang

Seton Hall School of Law; affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

The increased focus in recent years on the risks posed by conflicts of interest arising from financial relationships between physician-investigators and the pharmaceutical and medical device industries has led to a variety of measures that can broadly be described as “regulatory” interventions, including new federal and state laws, criminal prosecutions and private lawsuits, requirements attached to government funding, and institutional policies. Studies suggest, however, that physician-investigators have not internalized the message that financial conflicts of interest have the potential to influence their decision-making. Simply informing physician-investigators of the content of relevant rules and the consequences of noncompliance — as appears to be the practice in many existing compliance training activities — is unlikely to lead to lasting changes in norms or behavior. Instead, we theorize that, for trainings to be maximally effective, they must appeal to the complex intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that contribute to individuals’ willingness to comply with regulatory mandates. In addition, physician-investigators’ beliefs that the risks posed by conflicts of interest do not apply to them need to be challenged. Rigorous evaluation of the newly-designed training programs will help determine whether these theories are borne out in fact.

Keywords: physicians, pharmaceutical and medical device industry, conflicts of interest, norms, training, empirical legal studies

Suggested Citation

Greenwood, Kate and Coleman, Carl H. and Boozang, Kathleen M. and Boozang, Kathleen M., Toward Evidence-Based Conflicts of Interest Training for Physician-Investigators (2012). Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, Forthcoming, Seton Hall Public Law Research Paper No. 2129247, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2129247

Kate Greenwood (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Carl H. Coleman

Seton Hall Law School ( email )

One Newark Center
Newark, NJ 07102-5210
United States
201-204-9512 (Phone)
973-642-8194 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://law.shu.edu/Faculty/fulltime_faculty/Carl-Coleman.cfm

Kathleen M. Boozang

Seton Hall School of Law ( email )

One Newark Center
Newark, NJ 07102-5210
United States

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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