| 21. Dr. Jones must decide between two treatment regimens for a patient. As he investigates the evidence supporting each, he also checks out how much reimbursement each would provide for him. |
| # | Response Date | Comment |
| 1. | Tue, 3/13/07 11:24 PM | No COI if prescribing practices end up being appropriate for current medical standards |
| 2. | Tue, 3/13/07 11:30 PM | If Dr. Jones chooses one treatment regimen because he will be reimbursed well even though the evidence does not support it, it is a definite conflict of interest. It is not a COI to KNOW how well treatment regimens are reimbursed. |
| 3. | Wed, 3/14/07 1:16 AM | On what he does with this information. |
| 4. | Wed, 3/14/07 1:40 AM | Depends on his ultimate actions |
| 5. | Wed, 3/14/07 12:20 PM | it depends on which treatment should provide the best benefit to his patients. if no difference then no conflict. |
| 6. | Wed, 3/14/07 12:53 PM | again - as above - if all else is equal for the patient - then ok |
| 7. | Wed, 3/14/07 2:08 PM | whether the information causes the doctor to change his or her practice such that there is an opprotunity to influence an increase in income |
| 8. | Wed, 3/14/07 2:27 PM | Potential for conflict is reimbursement is the sole deciding factor...is the patient informed about the difference and involved in the decision? |
| 9. | Wed, 3/14/07 2:46 PM | If he chooses the more lucrative tx on the sole basis that it is more lucrative, and if that tx is less effective for his pt. then a serious COI |
| 10. | Wed, 3/14/07 3:35 PM | depends on how the reimbursement influences his decision |
| 11. | Sat, 3/17/07 1:33 PM | Dr. Jones should stop at the level of deciding between the two treatments and not look at the reimbursement issues. |
| 12. | Sat, 3/17/07 4:23 PM | On which treatment regimen he ultimately recommends. Just looking at the reimbursement payment structure is not a serious problem. |
| 13. | Mon, 3/19/07 5:30 PM | Docs are not supposed to finance their patients' care. |
| 14. | Mon, 4/23/07 3:41 PM | It depends on whether he uses the reimbursement information for personal benefit. |
| 15. | Tue, 4/24/07 1:52 PM | Only if he opts for suboptimal treatment because of higher reimbursement. |
| 16. | Tue, 4/24/07 6:53 PM | Really, I can't think of many examples where this can happen. It would have been better to write the question with a specific example if one exists. |
| 17. | Tue, 4/24/07 9:49 PM | Yes if the reimbursement is the cause of his decision. No if Dr Jones decides on the best treatment for his patient irregardless of the reimbursement. |
| 18. | Wed, 4/25/07 12:53 AM | If money enters into the decision process when fact finding, yes |
| 19. | Tue, 5/8/07 3:29 PM | .... |