Weekly Edition – May 29, 2012
May 29, 2012 
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In this week’s edition:: New federal disclosure law may have little impact on drugs doctors prescribe New federal disclosure law may have little impact on drugs doctors prescribeLaw aims to increase transparency between physicians and drug makers AURORA, Colo. (May 29, 2012) – A Colorado School of Public Health researcher has found that laws designed to illuminate financial links between doctors and pharmaceutical companies have little or no effect on what drugs physicians prescribe. “If the policymakers who passed these measures were hoping for a deterrent effect they may be disappointed,” said the study’s lead author, Genevieve Pham-Kanter, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy at the Colorado School of Public Health and a research fellow at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital. The report, published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, was prompted by passage of the Physician Payments Sunshine Provision of the Affordable Care Act. The new federal law requires drug manufacturers to disclose certain payments made to physicians including money for consulting, honoraria, gifts and travel. “This law is based on the premise that transparency in these transactions is of public importance and that disclosure requirements can act as a deterrent against quid pro quo exchanges – physicians may be reluctant to accept large payments from pharmaceutical firms if payments are publicly known and perceived as financial compensation for prescribing certain therapies,” said Pham-Kanter who is also an assistant professor of economics at the University of Colorado Denver. Working with Kavita Nair, PhD, associate clinical professor at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and G. Caleb Alexander, MD, MS, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Pham-Kanter examined West Virginia and Maine, two states with disclosure laws already on the books. Upcoming summer public health trainingsThe Colorado Public Health Training Center, at the Center for Public Health Practice, provides skill strengthening sessions to improve public health practice across the state. Training are designed for staff at local and state health agencies, community based organizations, foundations, health care providers, and for others working toward improved health of the public. For more information on upcoming trainings, visit the center at http://publichealthpractice.org. June 4 | Introduction to Public Health Practice – Sterling, CO The training center is supported by a grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration and is part of a national network of training centers. For more information on other training centers, visit the National Public Health Training Centers Network. Colorado School of Public Health at APHA ‘12Save the Date – Join the Colorado School of Public Health at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco October 27-31, 2012. Catch early bird pricing when registration and housing opens Friday, June 1. And, if you have plans to attend APHA as a presenter, please let us know, e-mail lyndsey.crum@ucdenver.edu. Alumni News and NotesWe are proud to share in the celebration and success of our alumni. If you are a graduate of the school or one of our predecessor programs, then share your news and updates. The school has a new alumni e-mail address you can use to submit your alumni updates and information, CSPH.Alumni@ucdenver.edu. Please include your name, e-mail, program and graduation year. Suchunya Aungkulanon MPH ‘10 MPH alumna Suchunya Augkulanon is a researcher at International Health Policy Program; a research institute in Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. She has worked on a burden of disease project estimating the burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors using the disability-adjusted life year (DALY) to enable policy-makers to appropriately allocate resources to health services. She is also involved in a study to estimate the infectious mortality trend in Thailand in collaboration of the Thailand MOPH – U.S. CDC collaboration and participated in the WHO initiative to estimate global burden of foodborne disease. Kelley Larsen MPH ‘11 MPH alumna Kelley Larsen is currently working for University of California Cooperative Extension and UC Davis on the Shaping Healthy Choices Program. As part of the project Kelley will teach nutrition education to 4th graders using Nutrition to Grow On curriculum, which incorporates school gardens into nutrition activities. Along with teaching classes twice a month, Kelley will work with a local chef and local growers to engage students and enhance school lunches with locally grown produce, conducting presentations and hands-on demos at PTA meetings and weekend family-fun health fairs. She is excited about the opportunity and the potential impact of the project. Alumni – You can now connect with the school on LinkedIn. Join our group today. Public Health MattersUpcoming Events | View details about these events online In the News | Visit Public Health Newsroom Public Health Job Opportunities | View details about these opportunities online |
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@theForefront | Colorado School of Public Health |
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