By Matthew Movsesian

Medical school faculty receiving remunerations from industry have financial incentives for promoting the products of the companies paying them. It’s no surprise, then, that medical schools require disclosure and management of such relationships. Yet, despite their greater prevalence and more profound influence, the financial incentives offered by medical schools have gone largely unnoticed. A consistent standard for disclosure and management should be applied to both intramural and extramural financial relationships.

The belief that consulting fees and other remunerations from industry can adversely affect the educational activities of medical school faculty has led many such teaching institutions to require the disclosure and management of faculty members’ relationships with private companies. Curiously, people have taken little, if any, notice of the financial incentives provided by medical schools themselves. Yet these intramural incentives are far more prevalent than those from industry and have an even greater ability to influence the activities of medical school faculty.

Part of the problem may be a failure to appreciate that US medical schools have evolved into big businesses that derive most of their income by providing healthcare services and securing extramural research grants.

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