In a recent University of Minnesota task force meeting, 25 people (including many U of M doctors and med students) discussed the handout money that doctors receive from different kinds of medical companies.

However, one person on that task force was not a physician at all. Gary Schwitzer, who is professor at the University of Minnesota School of journalism, is still shocked at what goes on behind the scenes in health care. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that Minnesota doctors accepted nearly $31 million in payments from drug companies between 2002 and 2004.

As a health journalist, Schwitzer has spent much time investigating the conflicts of interest that are all too common today. Schwitzer asks “what are consumers to think when a doctor receives thousands of dollars in frees to act as a consultant for a pharmaceutical company, and then prescribes drugs made by that same company?”

The plan does not stop doctors from receiving gifts from medical companies, but it does stop doctors from taking paid positions as consultants for them. On the other side of the debate, Dr. Leo Furcht, who is the University of Minnesota task force co-chair, thinks that taking away the deals between doctors and medical companies could potentially be a bad idea. Mainly because it is essential for the development of new ideas, treatments, and devices. Furcht states “some patients see that their physician is working closely with a large, highly regarded company in the field, and that they may actually be better than the doctor down the street and its actually the inverse of what you might expect.”

Another item that the University is trying to abolish is funding from the medical industry for continuing education credits. Medical industry money funded half the school’s $2.3 million continuing education budget last year.

To read further into this story, please visit http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/09/26/u_of_m_med_ethics/?refid=0

On May 1, 2008 Walgreens announced on their website (www.walgreens.com), that it has “completed it’s acquisitions of I-Trax, Inc., parent company of CHD Meridian Healthcare, and privately-held Whole Health Management, two leading companies that together operate more than 350 worksite health centers. The acquired companies services include primary and acute care, wellness, pharmacy and disease management services and health and fitness programming. The acquisitions position Walgreens as the leading provider of worksite health services. Combined with Walgreens wholly-owned subsidiary and convenient care clinic manager, Take Care Health Systems, the will form the platform for the new Walgreens Health and Wellness division”.

According to Walgreens.com, Walgreens is now the nation’s largest drugstore chain. It’s 2007 fiscal sales were $53.8 billion. Walgreens has 6,271 stores in all but 2 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

For more information, or to read Walgreen’s entire news release, please visit the following link:

http://news.walgreens.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=4950

What are your thoughts on this merger? What do you see as the potential benefits?

-Kayla Dean, Research Assistant