As Ground Hog Day approaches, it's naturally a topic of conversation whether or not the sun will shine. The Los Angeles Times, coming from a city where the sun usually shines, is worried about the lack of sunshine across the country in DC:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-medical-sunshine-20130201,0,1445349,print.story
We've previously noted how the Sunshine Act, to require federal reporting of drug company payments to individual physicians, got folded into the health reform law:
http://brodyhooked.blogspot.com/2010/03/along-for-reform-ride-sunshine.html
The Times notes that the final regs to implement this part of the health reform law were due out in October 2011, but they have yet to see the light of day (no pun intended). Their editorial advice is to get on with it speedily.
At intervals we have noted how some pharmapologists have insisted that folks like me who worry about financial conflicts of interest between medicine and the pharmaceutical industry are way off base because there's no evidence whatsoever that the public's trust in medicine or physicians is compromised by these financial ties. These folks may be right or they may be wrong, but they won't find any support for their position on the LA Times editorial page. The editorial makes its view clear that trust in medicine has been severely eroded and only as good dose of full disclosure can reverse the process.
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