Senator Prods Medical Nonprofits to Disclose More About Industry Contributions

Sen. Charles E. Grassley has renewed his effort to get nonprofit medical groups to provide more information to the public about the money they get from pharmaceutical, medical-device, and insurance companies.

Mr. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, sent letters about the matter to all but one of the 34 organizations that he had contacted in late 2009 and early 2010, including disease advocacy groups like the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association and medical-professional groups like the American Academy of Family Physicians and North American Spine Society.

As a Chronicle investigation found, the amount of money those groups get from medical companies varies widely, as do their policies for informing the public about them.

Mr. Grassley, who has been conducting a wide-ranging investigation into financial ties between industry and the medical fields, said in a statement that the nonprofits should disclose who is giving them money because “these organizations have a lot of influence over the way taxpayer dollars are spent,” adding that they take stands on legislation and provide guidance to federal health agencies.

The senator said 15 of the nonprofits that he originally sent letters to now disclose some information about industry contributions but that he’d like them to provide more details.

“It appears your organization has taken steps to identify on its Web site the corporate or industry sponsors and their range of funding support,” Mr. Grassley wrote in a letter sent to the groups that provide some disclosure. “However, the Web site does not specify the purposes of that funding.”

He sent a different letter to 18 groups that he said had not provided any additional information about industry money on their Web sites. He asked each if it was “currently taking steps to enhance the transparency of its financial relationships with the pharmaceutical and device industry”—and if not, to explain why. He asked all of the groups to respond by May 25.

Mr. Grassley did not send a second letter to TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University because the organization said it did not accept money from medical companies.

The senator also posted the responses he received from his first letter, which asked the groups to tell him how much money they got from medical industries from 2006 to 2009, how the money was used, and how they disclose where top where top executives and board members get outside income.

The North American Spine Society, which represents medical spine specialists, is among the groups that are going to consider Senator Grassley’s request quickly. Its board will consider in June whether to post information about industry payments on the Web site, says Eric Muehlbauer, the organization’s executive director. “I don’t see a problem with it,” he adds.

The American Heart Association said in a statement that it had published detailed information about pharmaceutical and medical-device contributions online for several years and this year added payments from insurance companies. “We are currently gathering information for our response to Senator Grassley’s current request,” it added.