In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Crossroads: The Intersection of Personal, Professional Society, and Industry Relationships
  • William H. Seitz Jr. and Edward Diao

Being hand surgeons who have been researchers, educators and clinicians, responsible for the education of medical students, residents, fellows and peers, who by necessity have worked with industry to develop new products, for which we have been compensated, we have always represented our involvement and potential conflicts in all of our professional activities. As such, we have been tapped over the past ten years by The American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) to develop and expand its relationships with industry to support our mission of education, research and innovation. This work was begun long before the investigation by the Department of Justice of improper personal relationships between orthopedists and industry.

We helped provide a peer–reviewed process for education and display of industry’s new technology at our annual meetings, which financially fueled our ability to enhance the quality of the meetings. This included the development of “hands–on” skilled workshops where industry provides surgeons opportunity to physically utilize new technology in a simulated surgical environment. The industry participants were charged a fee for this opportunities, and very quickly these opportunities became highly sought after by industry and significant revenues were generated. This provided feedback for industry from the surgeon participants to improve their equipment and, at the same time, it provided surgeons with access in a single venue to become familiar with new technology. In turn, the revenues generated provided financial support to reduce the overall cost of the annual meeting to our membership. Additionally, the development of this partnership with industry lead to interest in industry providing support for education and research as well as educational grants to allow more young surgeons to attend the annual meeting. Last year industry supported fifty $1,500.00 scholarships for residents and fellows as well as armed forces surgeons to attend our annual meeting.

Thus began the formation of relationships of “no–strings–attached” philanthropy by industry to promote meaningful research, which has itself helped direct industry to pursue new frontiers of product development. For the past three years our industry partners have contributed substantially to increase the amount of available funds in our [End Page 82] philanthropic foundation (the American Foundation for Surgery of the Hand). In turn, we have been able to substantially increase the amount of dollars awarded annually as research grants to our member applicants. This “seed money” has in turn been used to perform research which has additionally garnered substantial full–funding in the form of R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health and other similar organizations. Industry has had the opportunity to ask that their funds be used for research in certain areas (arthritis, soft–tissue, trauma, etc.). This allows them to evaluate current cutting edge research being done by our members and helps them focus on new frontiers of development as they plan their future goals and activities.

This evolutionary process has led to the development of the Corporate Advisory Council (CAC). The CAC has addressed issues of compliance and has generated a list of “Ten Commandments” of Ethical Society/Industry behavior, which can serve as a model for any professional society, and which has led to the publication of a white paper on this topic.

In these pages, we want to tell a story illustrating how potential “conflicts of interest,” if well–managed in terms of guidelines and transparency, can be used to enhance the delivery of health care by a professional society setting a very high “moral bar” and assuring strict enforcement of guiding principles as it brings physicians and industry together.

About ASSH

For over 50 years ASSH has been a leader in the advancement of the science and practice of hand surgery and upper extremity surgery to ensure competency of its members and ultimately the betterment of our patient’s lives. This has been accomplished through an extensive array of courses, meetings, development of educational materials and specialty training curricula. Dissemination of information and knowledge takes place through rigorous oversight at the ASSH Annual Meeting, on–going continuing medical education (CME) meetings throughout the year, its peer–reviewed specialty journal...

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