After a 1-year process that included review and critique of numerous published guidelines and commentaries, examination of the policies of other associations and institutions, and analysis of feedback from ACCP’s members and PRN and chapter officers, the Board of Regents (BOR), Research Institute Board of Trustees (BOT), and Pharmacotherapy Board of Directors (BOD) have endorsed a new set of organizational policies on acceptance of commercial support. The policy document, including a “Frequently Asked Questions” section, can be found at www.accp.com/docs/positions/positionStatements/CommercSuppPolicy.pdf. The effective date of the policies is January 1, 2013.

ACCP members are aware of the increased attention and scrutiny that is now accorded to interactions of the health care industry with health professionals, professional organizations, and providers of continuing medical education. Published commentaries and guidelines have appeared during the past 2 years in the lay press, professional journals, independent foundation papers, congressional documents, pharmaceutical industry publications, and Institute of Medicine documents. Growing concern about the influence of industry on aspects of education, research, and practice in the health professions led the College to reevaluate its current and/or potential relationships with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies.

The BOR, BOT, and BOD held both separate and joint discussions over the past year regarding the appropriateness of current and future relationships with industry. In March 2009, then ACCP President John Murphy appointed a three-member task group representing all three boards to develop draft guidelines on organization-industry relationships. The members of the task group were ACCP Past President Gary Matzke (Virginia Commonwealth University), Research Institute Trustee Richard de Leon (Amgen), and Pharmacotherapy board member Glen Schumock (University of Illinois).

A draft of the guidelines, which was initially reviewed and revised by the BOR, BOT, and BOD, was released in September 2009 to PRN Chairs, chapter Presidents, and the ACCP membership-at-large for comment. After receipt of member input, the three boards further revised and then adopted a final set of policies.

Although the policies take effect on January 1, 2013, it is expected that some policies will be voluntarily followed even before the enforcement date. The College’s leadership is releasing the policy document now in order to allow its members, PRNs, chapters, staff, and other stakeholders enough time to plan alternate approaches to managing their respective operations, and to begin the process of identifying alternate sources of financial support.