HIMSS exec denies conflict in role on RMD board

I’ve commented numerous times on my general fear of conflict of interest between doctors and pharma firms so it was great to be interviewed on a related subject by Modern Healthcare. Andis interviewed me for his piece HIMSS exec denies conflict in role on RMD board.

I told Andis that Davis’ appointment to the board of advisors at a for-profit health IT firm while he’s currently serving as a HIMSS executive is nothing new or terribly worrisome so long as it’s public and transparent. It wasn’t something I liked but I could live with it because the chance of real harm is limited.

What I real trouble with are cases where care providers like physicians are on secret or at least little-publicized pharma advisory boards. Health IT executives that serve in associations or vice-versa can’t really do too much harm. Doctors prescribing drugs for which there may be a conflict of interest is, of course, another matter. I personally don’t know any docs that have such conflicts of interest but some of them know other docs that might.