Where there's smoke, there's

just smoke? From the the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article "Academic Integrity in UW's CME program" written by Robert N. Golden, Dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs:

An objective, unbiased assessment confirms that the academic integrity of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health's Office of Continuing Professional Development is not in question. The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, the nonpartisan organization that sets and monitors the standards for CME programs across the country, recently completed an independent inquiry, which was triggered by the Journal Sentinel's first article about our CME activities.

The ACCME wrote that we had "implemented a careful and deliberate process to ensure that large amounts of commercial support do not in any way compromise the integrity of the university or the integrity of the continuing medical education program."

This assessment of our Office of Continuing Professional Development is consistent with other recent evaluations of our approach to identifying and managing apparent conflicts of interest.

Click here to access the article. Hat tip to Capsules.