CMSS Code for Interactions with Companies 

About the Code

The CMSS Code for Interactions with Companies guides ethical Specialty Society interactions with industry.

Healthcare professionals and patients count on Societies to be authoritative, independent voices in the world of science and medicine. Public confidence in a Society’s objectivity is critical to carrying out its mission, and Societies and their members are committed to acting with integrity and transparency across all their initiatives and collaborations, including their interactions with Companies. The CMSS Code for Interactions with Companies exemplifies this commitment by reinforcing the core principles that sustain Societies’ independence.

The Code serves as a framework to help ensure that a Society’s interactions with Companies will be focused on the benefits to patients and members and the improvement of care. Societies rely on the Code to develop their own policies and procedures that minimize conflicts of interest and safeguard the independence of their programs, policies, and advocacy positions.

2026 Code Update

A multidisciplinary Code Task Force from across our membership was convened to help update and revise the Code, which was last updated in 2015. The Task Force has worked tirelessly to review all aspects of the Code, recommend updates, and evaluate and incorporate comments received from CMSS members and other stakeholders.

CMSS is pleased to share the result of this effort: a revised CMSS Code for Interactions with Companies that embodies Societies’ commitment to core principles of independence and transparency while facilitating ethical Society-Company interactions that further Societies’ critical missions. The CMSS Board of Directors has officially approved the revised CMSS Code.

Resource: 

Adopting, Signing, and Supporting the Code

Adoption of the Code is voluntary for each CMSS Member Society. CMSS welcomes adoption of the Code by both member and non-member organizations that recognize its value and choose to integrate it into their organization’s policies and procedures regarding Society-Company interactions.

Because Societies vary in their activities and corporate structures, these policies and procedures may be tailored to meet individual organizational needs while maintaining the underlying tenets of the Code. Notably, Societies may choose to adopt policies that are more rigorous than the Code.

An initial list of member society signatories and other organizations that have adopted or supported the Code is available below. Updates will be provided on a rolling basis as societies elect to adopt the Code.

Inquiries regarding the Code, as well as questions regarding the sign-on process, may be directed to Julia Peterson, CAE, CMSS Chief Operating Officer.

Code Signers

American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
American Academy of Ophthalmology
American Association of Clinical Endocrinology
American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
American College of Physicians
American College of Physicians
American College of Radiology
American College of Rheumatology
American Epilepsy Society
American Geriatrics Society
American Psychiatric Association
American Society for Clinical Pathology
American Society of Clinical Oncology
American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons
American Society of Hematology
American Urological Association
Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association
Society of Critical Care Medicine
Society of General Internal Medicine
Society of Surgical Oncology

Task Force Members

• Anne Grupe, Chair

  Senior Director, Continuing Education
  American Society of Clinical Oncology

• Diane Bieri

  CMSS Consultant

• Dale Fajardo

  Vice President, Education
  American Academy of Ophthalmology

• Joan Hablutzel

  Sr. Director, Education, Events & Operations
  Obesity Medicine Association

• John Harmon

  Associate Director, Conflict of Interest and Documents
  American Thoracic Society

• Molly Harrison

  Operations Coordinator
  American Society of Nephrology

• John Hutchins

  General Counsel & Chief Legal Officer
  American Academy of Neurology

• Jason Keith

  Associate Executive Director
  American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons

• Martha Liggett

  Executive Director
  American Society of Hematology

• Jennifer Medicus

  Deputy Director Practice Guidelines
  American Psychiatric Association

• Peggy Pissarreck

  Director of Governance and Compliance
  American Society of Plastic Surgeons

• Amanda Plummer

  Associate Director, Legal & HR
  Society of Critical Care Medicine

• Tracy Sereiko

  Chief Executive Officer
  American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

• Michelle Zinnert

  Executive Director
  Society for Post-acute and Long-term Care Medicine