Following the lead of other major university-affiliated hospital systems, Pittsburgh-based UMPC is considering a ban on all gifts and free samples from pharmaceutical company representatives to its doctors and other employees.

The UPMC proposed ban is a welcome move toward eliminating conflicts of interest in the oftentimes close relationship between drug company representatives and doctors. For years, pharmaceutical sales reps have treated many doctors to gifts, free meals and even subsidized vacations to encourage doctors to prescribe their particular brand of a medicine over others from competing manufacturers.

While most people believe that their doctor would only prescribe the medicines that are best for them — in terms of effectiveness and cost — several studies have proven that that is not always true. The cozy relationship between some physicians and drug company reps has been confirmed in various reports, including a study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine reporting that four out of five doctors in six specialties accepted food or drink from medical device companies.

Anyone who has spent any time in a doctor's waiting room has seen the drug rep parade — generally young, well-dressed men and women with briefcases stopping in to see the doctor to promote their company's products. And while drug company representatives do serve an important education role in keeping doctors up-to-date on the latest medications, doctors' judgment in prescribing medicines should not be compromised by gifts, free meals or any financial incentives.

Another common practice of drug companies, giving doctors free samples, would also be ended under the proposed UPMC gift ban, which is similar to policies adopted at other major hospitals in recent years. And that aspect of the no-freebie policy could be a downside to the gift ban.

Quite often, doctors offer the free samples to their low-income or underinsured patients. If the free samples are no longer available, those patients could suffer. One possible solution, tried at other hospitals with a no-gift rule, would be the creation of a voucher program for low-income patients to receive cheaper medicines.

Surely some way can be found to help low-income patients get necessary medicines.

The overall impact of a ban on gifts or any freebies from drug makers to doctors is overdue in coming to UPMC. Similar programs are already in place at medical centers at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, Stanford University, Yale University and the University of Vermont.

If, as expected, UPMC adopts the gift-ban policy, other medical practices outside the giant health system should follow suit and eliminate any incentive — other than patient benefits — for a doctor to prescribe one company's drug over another.