About Interactions with Industry

Interactions with industry provide important support to the mission of Partners and its hospitals to carry out high quality and leading edge medicine, research, and medical education, and in translating scientific discoveries into advances that improve medical care. However, while valuable, relationships with industry raise a concern that the financial and other aspects of these relationships may create conflicts of interest that can bias, or appear to bias, how Partners and individuals at Partners carry out their charitable activities.

History

Partners entities have a long history of promoting fruitful interactions with industry. While these interactions are important, they also introduce financial and/or associational interests that should not go unmonitored. The concern is that these associations create interests that may influence an individual’s behavior, consciously or subconsciously, and create an actual or perceived conflict of interest between the individual and the charitable activities in which he or she participates.

Partners entities also have a long history of ensuring that relationships with industry do not compromise Partners standards for delivering patient care, conducting research, and providing education. Policies and process for managing outside activities and conflicts of interest have been in place since Partners formation in the mid-1990s, and at its founding hospitals for many years before that. In 2007, in order to reaffirm its standards for professionalism and integrity, and in light of developments at peer institutions and elsewhere, Partners leaders formed the physician and scientist-led Commission on Interactions with Industry to review Partners’ policies on relationships with industry.  The Commission reaffirmed Partners support for appropriate relationships with industry, issued recommendations to refine existing policies, and put into place additional policies and practices. The resulting policies are not meant to discourage relationships with industry, but rather ensure that interactions with industry are appropriately managed. See the Commission Report and Recommendations.