Conflict of Interest Office

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

Faculty and staff at University of Iowa Health Care have increasing opportunities to engage in professional activities with industry and other outside entities.

Such activities may improve patient care through the development of new products; strengthen knowledge and skills; and contribute to the growth and development of expertise. Yet care must be taken to ensure that relationships between UI Health Care employees and outside entities are free from any actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

To reinforce our commitment to upholding the highest possible ethical standards and to foster greater transparency, University of Iowa Health Care implemented a Conflict of Interest/Conflict of Commitment policy on July 1, 2009.

Disclosures of external relationships made by UI Health Care faculty and staff members are publicly accessible.

If you have questions about the policy, please contact the Conflict of Interest Office at 1-319-384-5252 or [email protected]

Public disclosure of payments to physicians and teaching hospitals from drug and device companies:

Open Payments is a national disclosure program that promotes a more transparent and accountable health care system by making the financial relationships between applicable manufacturers and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) and health care providers (physicians and teaching hospitals) available to the public.

To use the Open Payments data search tool visit the Resources page.

• From the Resources page, you can search the public view by physician name, teaching hospital, or company. You do not have to register in order to utilize this search.
• Payments are sorted to separate research payments from general payments

Making Disputes

If you missed the opportunity to participate in the April 1 through May 15 review and dispute period, physicians and teaching hospitals have until Dec. 31 to review the publicly available data and dispute any inaccuracies.

You need to register dispute a payment. For physicians and teaching hospitals, registration has two main steps:

1. Register in the Enterprise Identity Management System. This step confirms your identity and makes sure others can't get your information.
2. Register in the Open Payments system in the CMS Portal. This step lets you see the data reported about you.

For more information and a summary of payments:

• CMS' Open Payments Rules and Database
• The Facts About Open Payments Data

If you have questions or need assistance, contact the UI Health Care Conflict of Interest Office at 1-319-384-5252, or [email protected].