Cleveland Clinic begins posting doctors’ business relationships

Last week the Cleveland Clinic became the first hospital system in the nation to post all business relationships between doctors and outside companies on its Web site (Source: “Cleveland Clinic to post its doctors' business ties,” Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Dec. 3, 2008).

On the biography page of each doctor, there is now a section listing all payments of more than $5,000 a year for speaking or consulting. Exact dollar amounts are not disclosed, although the Clinic plans to being reporting that information within a year.

Of the 1,800 doctors at the Clinic, about 400 have relationships that will be reported on the site, according to a Clinic spokesperson.

The move was applauded by watchdog groups who hope the Clinic’s approach will be adopted by all hospital systems (Source: “Experts support Cleveland Clinic disclosures,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Dec. 2, 2008). Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has proposed federal legislation that would require companies to disclose all of their financial relationships with health care providers.

As Dr. Stuart Youngner, chairman of the Department of Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University, put it, "The more transparency the better."