Free Travel for Military Personnel with Prescribing Power

June 17th, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

From 1998 through 2007, there were 8,700 trips by Department of Defense personnel paid for by the healthcare industry, with a price tag of more than $10 million, according to a new report titled, “Pentagon Travel,” by the Center for Public Integrity.

In a joint project with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, the Center reviewed travel disclosure forms filed by DOD personnel, and found the medical industry was the largest sponsor of free travel, accounting for about 40% of all trips.

The sponsors included drug and device makers as well as health foundations and trade groups often funded by those companies.

“Drug companies and device manufacturers spent about $1.7 million for more than 1,400 trips taken by DOD doctors, medical researchers, pharmacists, and other health care employees over the decade, creating relationships that pose serious conflict of interest issues, according to medical ethics experts,” the Center said in a June 9, 2009 summary of the study on its website titled, “Medical Industry Showers DOD with Free Travel.”

Tags: Pentagon

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