Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

No PhRMA Gift Ban in Health Care Bill

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In addition, there are exemptions:

The marketing code of conduct adopted by the department shall allow:

(1) the provision, distribution, dissemination or receipt of peer reviewed academic, scientific or clinical information;

(2) the purchase of advertising in peer reviewed academic, scientific or clinical journals;

(3) prescription drugs provided to a health care practitioner solely and exclusively for use by the health care practitioner’s patients;

(4) compensation for the substantial professional or consulting services of a health care practitioner in connection with a genuine research project or a clinical trial;

(5) payment for reasonable expenses necessary for technical training on the use of a medical device if that expense is part of the vendor’s purchase contract for the device.

It exempts costly clinical information from scientific journals from the reporting requirement.  

In addition, it exempts accredited Continuing Medical Education (CME) another large dollar expense.

I think this is unfortunate, instead of just banning gifts we are actually adding bureaucracy and have failed at the attempt to bring significant impact in lowering costs.

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Comments

  1. Why do we pick the Pharma world only? How about software companies like Cognos? What about surgical equipment?  

      • Schooling is compulsory, but we don’t regulate gifts to administrators from “Big Curricula”. What about all the schools that have jumped on the inquiry-based/Chicago/TERC mathematics programs even though there is little to recommend those programs, especially in urban areas.

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        p>What about teachers and administrators who moonlight as consultants? Should that be regulated?

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        p>I know of one “energy audit consulting company” out of Texas that would pay superintendents in order to get in front of School Committees. At least one MA district entered into a contract with them. After presenting my research (which contained questionable behavior beyond skirting procurement law), our then business manager did not invite them to talk to the SC.

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        p>And then there are the education collaboratives. The Merrimac Education Collaborative holds a swanky annual dinner inviting — if I recall correctly — 20 people from each district. I know that SC members have been offered tickets when employees were unavailable. Is that influencing districts and officials to retain their memberships (and supporting their CEO’s $300K annual salary?).

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        p>And we haven’t even started on the influence peddling of labor unions.  đŸ™‚

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        p>

        • Inquiry-based mathematics teaches children to think for themselves–but as a registered Republican since 2006, you might see that as a bad thing.

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          p>But you and JohnD are completely off-topic.  The topic is Pharma’s marketing and that it should be regulated.  The regulation of education, or Republican Senators relationships to Oil Companies might be a good thing, but it’s not for this thread.

          • Seems pretty relevant to me, particularly in light of Stomv’s comment which depicted Pharma as unique.

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            p>You pronounce inquiry-based mathematics as good, and marketing of that product as good.

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            p>I could similarly pronounce prescription drugs as good, and justify marketing as good.

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            p>And maybe we’d both be right.

          • We should debate inquiry-based mathematics in another thread.

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            p>But asking how this law compares to other industries is most definitely relevant to the discussion.  

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            p>johnk is right — this is useless bureaucracy. Not only will it not lead to lower costs, it may lead to higher costs as business will now need to track every time they give out trinkets at a trade show.

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            p>Seriously, what kind of influence did the pols think could be purchased with $50? I was in elementary school when I was taught how not to be fooled television commercials. What exactly about pharma’s marketing needs to be regulated?

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            p>If a doctor is swayed by free pens, we’ve got a different problem. If a doctor is getting kickbacks from pharma — don’t we already have laws on the books against that sort of thing?

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            p>Let’s be silly for a moment and take this statute literally. I am a “person in the commonwealth authorized to… purchase prescription drugs and medical devices in the commonwealth.” Does that mean that I cannot receive subsidies from a pharma corp? How unfortunate!

  2. THis may sound ridiculus, in the larger scheme of things, but saving the food is important.
    It’s important to small mom & pop caterers who depend on it to make a profit and it’s important to small independent restaurants for the same reason.
    Maybe we can revisit this when the econmy is better, but right now its helping out a great many bsinesses.

    • a better compromise would have been to report and document gifts under $50 and ban anything over $50.  While we pay for any gift cost, if would have been nice to at least cut the big ticket items.

  3. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department shall adopt a standard marketing code of conduct for all pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturing companies that employ a person to sell or market prescription drugs or medical devices in the commonwealth.  The marketing code of conduct shall be based on applicable legal standards and incorporate principles of health care including, without limitation, requirements that the activities of the pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturer agents be intended to benefit patients, enhance the practice of medicine and not interfere with the independent judgment of health care practitioners. In promulgating regulations for a marketing code of conduct, the department adopt regulations that shall be no less restrictive than the most recent version of the Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals developed by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals developed by the Advanced Medical Technology Association.
               The marketing code of conduct adopted by the department shall not allow:
               (1) the provision of or payment for meals for health care practitioners that:
               (a) are part of an entertainment or recreational event;
               (b) are offered without an informational presentation made by pharmaceutical marketing agent or without the pharmaceutical marketing agent being present;
               (c) are offered, consumed, or provided outside of the health care practitioner’s office or hospital setting; or
               (d) are provided to a healthcare practitioner’s spouse or other guest;
               (2) the provision or payment of entertainment or recreational items of any value, including, but not limited to, tickets to the theater or sporting events, sporting equipment, or leisure or vacation trips, to any health care practitioner who is not a salaried employee of the company;
               (3) sponsorship or payment for continuing medical education, in this section referred to as CME, also known as independent medical education, that does not meet the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education Standards For Commercial Support, or that provides payment directly to a health care practitioner;
               (4) financial support for the costs of travel, lodging or other personal expenses of non-faculty healthcare practitioners attending any CME event, third-party scientific or educational conference, or professional meetings, either directly to the individuals participating in the event or indirectly to the event’s sponsor, except in cases as determined by the department.
               (5) funding to compensate for the time spent by health care practitioners participating in any CME event, third-party scientific or educational conferences, or professional meetings;
               (6) the provision of or payment for meals directly at any CME event, third-party scientific or educational conferences, or professional meetings;
               (7) payments in cash or cash equivalents to healthcare practitioners either directly or indirectly, except as compensation for bona fide services;
               (8) any grants, scholarships, subsidies, support, consulting contracts, or educational or practice related items to a healthcare practitioner in exchange for prescribing prescription drugs or using medical devices or for a commitment to continue prescribing prescription drugs or using medical devices.
               The marketing code of conduct adopted by the department shall allow:
               (1) the provision, distribution, dissemination or receipt of peer reviewed academic, scientific or clinical information;
               (2) the purchase of advertising in peer reviewed academic, scientific or clinical journals;
               (3) prescription drugs provided to a health care practitioner solely and exclusively for use by the health care practitioner’s patients;
               (4) compensation for the substantial professional or consulting services of a health care practitioner in connection with a genuine research project or a clinical trial;
               (5) payment for reasonable expenses necessary for technical training on the use of a medical device if that expense is part of the vendor’s purchase contract for the device.
               The department shall update the marketing code of conduct no less than every two years. The department may promulgate regulations or other guidelines as necessary to implement this section.

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    p>The law allows the Department of Health to set the rules for marketing to physicians.  The exceptions are modest.  Trying to ban the dissemination of scientific journal articles or advertising in professional journals is a fool’s errand (perhaps you have heard of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?).  Providing drug samples benefits patients, and federal law prevents physicians from charging for the samples.  Doctors are essential to research, so you can’t ban research contracts.  The last exception speaks for itself.

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    p>Accredited Continuing Medical Education must meet rigorous standards for content neutrality, and cannot be controlled by the funding sponsor.

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    p>This is a strong law, probably the strongest of its kind in the United States.            

    • Bottom line, no restrictions on gifts.  

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      p>What you are missing from your post completely is that in any scenario journal and CME are allowed, but the problem is that they are exempt from even being disclosed.

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