A view from industry: the foundations of future commercial support and a call for action.

Based on a model of industry support that aligns with the emerging performance-improvement approach to continuing medical education (CME), a call to action is made for the transformation of commercial support. Today, commercial support, like the CME profession, is linked largely to educational activities of far less value to patients than the model now emerging to address professional practice gaps. The new model could help ameliorate lingering concerns about the presence of commercial support, but it also will require fundamental changes in perspective and procedures by both industry and CME providers.