The nation's 39 Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies have formally endorsed the AAMC's Principles for Protecting Integrity in the Conduct and Reporting of Clinical Trials. The AAMC principles were developed in collaboration with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association to strengthen the role of U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals as trusted and reliable sources of research information. The comprehensive guidelines direct the ethical and operational aspects of data access, analysis and reporting of clinical research studies. They aim to ensure that academic institutions do not accept restrictions by sponsors that would exclude members of academic research teams from full intellectual participation in studies and thereby prevent those investigators from being held responsible and accountable for the results. For more information, please visit the AAMC website.