CMS

Week in Review, September 10, 2014

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PhRMA pushes for dismissal of Integrilin off-label case, a recent FCPA settlement reveals a shift in DOJ thinking, European companies are not sure how to handle informed consent with EFPIA, and another organization wants CMS to keep the CME exemption in the Sunshine Act Final Rule.

Cue the heavenly choir; all is right with the world once again. Football season is here! The college season kicked off with some unexpected upsets, unexpected blowouts (Johnny Who? Texas A&M is here to play, y’all!), and even disruptions due to weather. The pros started the season with a kick this past weekend. The next several months are sure to be full of excitement as we get our gridiron on. For now, it’s back to the real world, as we take a look at the latest in compliance-related news with this week’s compliance News in Review.

Kicking off this week edition is PhRMA and its request to a California federal court to dismiss an off-label case on First Amendment grounds. The suit was filed by a whistleblower who alleges the three companies violated the FDCA by using truthful, off-label statements to promote a drug. PhRMA says the claim was nullified through the Supreme Court decisions in Sorrell v. IMS and the U.S. v. Caronia. According to the organization, healthcare professionals need accurate, up-to-date information about uses of medication, and neither the government nor the whistleblower alleged that the information provided about the drug was inaccurate.

The recent Smith and Wesson FCPA settlement reveals a couple of new additions to the government’s playbook, which businesses might want to note. First, the case appears to be signaling a shift in the DOJ and SEC’s focus on “high value targets” to those involving small and mid-size companies. Next, in the charges against Smith and Wesson, the internal controls violations centered on the company’s lack of an adequate compliance program, rather than financial documentation. The government noted that there was a policy prohibiting bribery in place, but the company had no process for ensuring the policy was followed.

A recent article from FCPA Professor lists four attributes of a strong compliance program that can be gleaned from a successful football program. First, understand the playbook. Effectively communicating the playbook is the first step toward becoming a successful team. Likewise, FCPA training should be executable by all employees. He suggests companies don’t need to train employees to be FCPA experts, but rather, provide them with “FCPA goggles” by which they can discern if actions are potentially problematic. Second, execution by all team members is key. More FCPA violations occur from the actions of employees doing the day-to-day work, rather than those in the C-suite or Board. Third is having a flexible playbook. A company needs to take a look at its compliance risks, and manage its own risks, not those of another company. Last but not least, play hard, but not too hard. A business can run into issues (penalties) when it competes too aggressively.

Tackling informed consent in regards to the EFPIA Disclosure Code is proving to be challenging for many companies. Data privacy laws in European countries require that companies obtain consent from healthcare professionals (HCPs) and healthcare organizations (HCOs) prior to publishing any data about transfers of value between the company and HCPs or HCOs. To complicate matters, companies also need to manage consent for direct and indirect payments. At a recent aggregate spend conference, audience members were polled as to how their company planned to handle managing consent. Most of the audience was still unsure of how it would be handled and nearly 20% said their company planned to manage consent directly, as opposed to turning it over to a third party.

The CME Coalition is jumping on the pile with comments regarding CMS’ proposal to eliminate the CME exemption from Sunshine’s Final Rule. The Coalition says the idea of eliminating the exemption is problematic because it requires manufacturers to report payments if they become aware of the identity of the payment recipient(s) within 18 months of the grant. In its comments, the organization suggested that CMS keep an explicit definition as to what constitutes accredited and certified CME, and revise the language in the CMS exclusion to be more specific.

The clock is ticking down on this edition of the Week in Review. We close with the suggestion that if your 2015 compliance training playbook needs refreshing, the PharmaCeritfy™ suite of compliance training solutions offers the eLearning modules and mobile apps you need to prepare your team to compete in today’s regulatory environment.

Have a great week everyone!

Week in Review, August 27, 2014

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Another industry organization calls for a change to the Sunshine Act, manufacturers claim data entered into Open Payments is now lost, the Supreme Court is petitioned to review the definition of instrumentality as it pertains to the FCPA, and questions are raised about potential reporting loopholes in the Medicine’s Australia Code of Conduct.

Bananas, fish fingers and custard for all! Doctor Who, season eight, is here! Finally, 12 makes his debut, and we can only hope that he still thinks bow ties and fezzes are cool. And can we just take a moment to thank BBC America for scheduling Doctor Who to run here in the U.S. when it runs on BBC 1? Now we don’t have to spend months trying to avoid news about the show, like we do for Downton Abbey. So let’s jump in the TARDIS and take a journey back in time with this week’s News in Review.

Exterminate! Exterminate! That’s the sentiment of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) regarding CMS’ proposed change to the rule in the Sunshine Act about payments for CME. The Council said the current exemption for payments associated with accredited CME needs to remain in place for several reasons. First, a distinction should be maintained between accredited and certified CME and other educational programs in order to preserve the independence of CME programs. Second, faculty payments should not be subject to reporting because the faculty member’s relationship is with the CME provider, not the manufacturer. Finally, attendees of accredited CME should not be subject to the reporting of payments, because like faculty, attendees have no relationship with the manufacturers providing grants for a program.

Speaking of Sunshine, after Open Payments came back online, drug and device manufacturers reported that payment data once in the system is now gone. CMS says the missing data is due to matching issues. Some of the issues are the result of a data marrying problem that took the system down recently. In other cases, information such as license numbers and names do not exactly match the information in CMS’s database. Policy and Medicine was informed by manufacturers and physicians alike that information that was accurate in Open Payments is now missing. One manufacturer claims all of its clinical research data is now gone. According to the article, the problem could be with the NPPES (National Plan and Provider Enumeration System) database. Portions of New Jersey doctors’ state license numbers were cut off in the database. Also, an analysis last year by the OIG found that almost half of the NPPES records that were inspected contained at least one inaccurate piece of information.

What is instrumentality under the FCPA? We could ask the Inner Council on Gallifrey, but since that is fictional (what!?), the U.S. Supreme Court will have to do. The high court has been petitioned by two individuals convicted of bribery under the FCPA to review a federal appeals court’s definition of an “instrumentality.” The two were convicted of paying kickbacks to employees of a government-owned telecommunications company. The government argued the telecom company was an instrumentality of the government, and the appeals court agreed.

 

Some advocacy groups are already looking for a regeneration of Medicines Australia’s transparency requirements in the latest edition of that group’s Code of Conduct. The Code is pending authorization by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The organizations have petitioned the ACCC to not authorize Medicines Australia’s Code of Conduct based on potential loopholes that will allow physicians to opt out of having their payment information publicly disclosed.

 

Well, that bring us to the end of this week’s episode. Based on the plethora of recent news stories related to Open Payments, the demand for transparency when dealing with HCPs isn’t going away anytime soon. The Sunshine Act: The Federal Physician Spend Disclosure Law, from our PharmaCertify™ suite of customizable online compliance modules, offers the content your team needs to stay abreast of the ramifications and reporting requirements of the law. We even offer a complementary Sunshine Act mobile app to help ensure your reps have the information where they need it most – in the field and at their fingertips.

 

Have a great week everyone!

 

Have a great week everyone!

 

Week in Review, August 19, 2014

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The widespread use of DPAs and NPAs in bribery cases raises legal concerns, CMS shuts down Open Payments to correct data problems and subsequently announces it will actually withhold one third of the data until June 2015.

Can you feel it? The air is heavy with despair. It may be faint, but the smell of newly sharpened pencils and mimeograph ink (remember that stuff?) is in the air. It’s back to school time! If you need help figuring out what to buy for Junior’s backpack this year, the trusty editors at Good Housekeeping have created a series of school shopping lists divided by grade level. You may be surprised to see tissues and hand sanitizers on there, along with the staples like pencils and glue sticks. Don’t forget the hand sanitizer and tissues!

To go this year started, we begin with a little reading assignment of our own. Put your thinking caps on class, it’s time for this week’s News Week in Review (and most of this will be on the test).

Corporate Bribery + Prosecution Agreement = End to Case. According to a recent Forbes article, the widespread use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements and Non-Prosecution Agreements in bribery cases is troubling from a legal standpoint. Using DPAs and NPAs leads to the charges being untested in court and self-reporting can do more harm than good. The authors argue that companies or individuals are better off fighting untrue or exaggerated claims, rather than opting for the settlement route.

No school year would be complete without a little drama, and thanks to Open Payments we have quite the soap opera to tell. Days after physicians and teaching hospitals were able to access Open Payments to review the data reported about them, at least one physician found that payments from another physician with the same name were showing up on his report. CMS subsequently shutdown the Open Payments portal for physicians and teaching hospitals. The shutdown dragged on for eleven days before the portal was reopened, and so far, so good. CMS extended the review and dispute period for physicians and teaching hospitals to September 8. The public website will still be available on September 30th.

All’s Well that Ends Well, right? No so quicketh, faire reader. The malady was resolved, but hark, hear now cometh a report that all information will be revealed not! (okay, we apologize for the rough attempt at Shakespearean English) CMS has announced that due to data inconsistencies, it will withhold one-third of Sunshine data from the public website. The records are being returned to the submitters to address issues of data intermingling. The data will be released in the June 2015 publication. In addition to clearing up the errant records, CMS replaced a confusing error that appeared when a search yielded no payments for a physician or teaching hospital.

As the bell rings on this edition of the Compliance News Week in Review, we dismiss you with the reminder that the PharmaCertify™ suite of eLearning modules and mobile apps offer the up-to-date information your staff when and where they need it most – in the field and at their fingertips.

Have a great week everyone!

Week in Review, July 9, 2014

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CMS makes changes to reporting deadlines and requirements, Canada continues to collect date about the effects of off-label use of drugs, and Medicines Australia updates its Code of Conduct.

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream! And we’ll be doing a lot of screaming because July is National Ice Cream Month. (July – 31 days. Baskin-Robbins – 31 flavors. Coincidence?) Whether on a cone, in a cup or topped with sauces, fruit or confections, July is a great month to enjoy this cold treat. And gone are the days when Tutti Frutti was the outrageous flavor. Now, along with the likes of Cookies & Cream and Rum Raisin, you can have your pick of Chocolate-Chili, Roasted Garlic, or Mushy Green Peas. As you ponder your favorite flavor (bizarre or otherwise) for beating the July heat, we offer our own scoop with this week’s News in Review.

The deadline for submitting Phase 2 data melted away, sort of, last week. CMS sent out an email essentially extending the deadline for submitting Open Payments Phase 2 documents to July 7. In the e-mail, CMS said it wanted to assure accuracy and completeness of the reports and attestations and that penalties would not be enforced for non-compliance until after July 7.

Also melting away could be the CME exclusion in final rule for the Sunshine Act. CMS is planning to propose a change to the exemption for reporting CME payments. The current rule allows an exemption for three reasons: the program is accredited by certain organizations, the physician isn’t paid directly by the manufacturer, or the manufacturer doesn’t influence the selection of speakers. CMS ultimately decided to remove the exclusion due to the redundancies involving indirect payments that occur when the manufacturer is unaware of the recipient. The agency also does not want to appear that it is indicating support of certain accrediting bodies by continuing to specifically name them in the exemption. The proposed changes will appear in the July 11 Federal Register.

And if the CME change isn’t enough, CMS has a few other toppings to add to the final rule sundae. The agency is also proposing that “stock, stock options, and other ownership interests” not be one category, but three. Other changes include the requirement that all manufacturers, including device manufacturers, use the product’s marketed name on reports and the removal of the “definition of a covered device” from the rule.

Canada’s Health Minister, Rona Ambrose, is serving up a scoop or two of new information about serious side effects resulting from off-label drug use. Health Canada has been collecting the information for several years, but technical issues prevented it from making the database of information publicly available. The group is planning a systems upgrade that will allow the regulator to share the database. No timeline for when the public can expect to access the information has been released.

Medicines Australia is looking for approval of its latest flavor. The organization has submitted the 18th edition of its Code of Conduct to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for authorization. The new Code includes requirements for the reporting of transfers of value from industry to healthcare professionals. If authorized, the Code will become effective January 2015, with the new transparency requirements going into effect October of 2015. However, not everyone is happy with the result. A provision requiring manufacturers to obtain permission from physicians to allow their name to be published with the payment data, has members of the Greens political party very concerned. A spokesman said the party was considering reintroducing legislation to make the reporting of transfers of value to physicians a legal requirement.

Sunshine and transparency will no doubt continue to be a popular flavor, both here and abroad, for the distant future. That’s why we are adding a global transparency focused module to our growing list of PharmaCertify™ off-the-shelf learning solutions. To learn more about the module or see a content outline, contact Sean Murphy at smurphy@nxlevelsolutions.com.

Have a great rest of the week!

Compliance Week in Review, June 18, 2014

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Comments to CMS show physicians and the pharmaceutical industry are wary about the Sunshine dispute resolution process, the American Medical Association passes a resolution to modify the Act, and Minnesota makes changes to its aggregate spend law.

Well, that was a big weekend. First we had a Friday the 13th to escape and/or celebrate (your choice), and then the big day, Father’s Day. Hopefully, you avoided any unfortunate incidents or questionable neckties. So now here we are on just another plain ol’ day in June. We’ll keep the “party” rolling by taking a look back at some of the big news stories of the past week. Time to for this week’s Compliance News in Review.

Comments received by CMS regarding the Sunshine dispute resolution process show physicians and the industry alike are feeling a bit wary about the future. Physician groups commented that the 60 days to resolution period is too short. It was pointed out that even if a physician submitted a dispute to CMS when the window opens, there is no guarantee CMS will forward the dispute in a timely manner to the manufacturer. In addition, teaching hospitals will need more time to complete their review of the data than an individual physician. The CME Coalition suggested that data publication be delayed until March of 2015. The group said physicians should be allowed more time to deal with discrepancies. On the industry side, PhRMA noted that CMS was correct in allowing manufacturers the ability to determine what disputes will be investigated and resolved.

The “lucky” number for the AMA House of Delegates is 100. During a recent meeting, the House of Delegates passed a resolution to lobby Congress to enact two significant changes to the Sunshine Act. First, the Medical Society of New Jersey (MSNJ) suggested the minimum threshold for reportable transfers of value be raised to $100. The MSNJ said the current threshold is too difficult for the industry and physicians to track. The second change involved the inclusion of medical textbooks and journal articles in the educational items exclusion. The change was suggested by the American Medical Group Association. The passage of the resolution is considered to be a message to the Washington D.C. office of the AMA to work with Congress to institute the changes to the Act.

A new article disputes the argument that conflicts of interest between the industry and physicians result in decisions that are harmful to patients. The authors of the article say the “conflict of interest campaign” has directed resources away from worthwhile medical care and research issues. The authors claim the huge settlements in off-label cases give the impression that patients were in harm’s way, however there is very little evidence that was actually the case. Where publication biases are concerned, the article’s authors say the conflict of interest detractors are asking the wrong question. Detractors focus on whether there are differences in industry-funded studies and studies conducted by non-profits, rather than focusing on whether the studies are scientifically unsound. Removing the assumption that positive results from industry studies are the result of misconduct, no reason exists to assume the studies are scientifically flawed.

Changes have been made to the granddaddy of aggregate spend laws. The Minnesota legislature passed a bill that expands the definition of a practitioner to include APRNs, Medical Assistants and Dental Assistants who are authorized to prescribe, dispense or administer medication. The expansion means these professionals now fall under the state’s gift ban and reporting laws. The Board of Pharmacy suggested companies begin tracking spend related to these professionals since reporting would likely be required in 2015.

To no one’s surprise, the Sunshine Act is still dominating the news. During a recent webinar aimed at physicians and teaching hospitals, CMS said that the dispute resolution period would be in the August/September time frame, but the agency did not offer specific dates. CMS still appears committed to a public release of the data by September 30. However, one of the callers on the webinar pointed out that the September 30th date was not included in the Final Rule and the Rule only states that 2013 data reports will be published in 2014. If CMS pushes the public release back, this would address one of the issues raised in the comments about the dispute resolution process. CMS also said it would not be expanding covered recipients to include mid-level practitioners. That sort of change would have to come from Congress.

There sure was plenty of Sunshine in this week’s news and there are bound to be plenty of Sunshine-related questions from healthcare professionals. The PharmaCertify™ eLearning module, The Sunshine Act: The Federal Physician Spend Disclosure Law, provides your sales representatives to up-to-date training on the Act, and includes a comprehensive list of the disclosure requirements included in the law.

Have a great week everyone!

Week in Review, January 28, 2014

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Sunshine and state-accredited CME are clarified at a conference, the Supreme Court weighs in on medical device patent infringement, China institutes a new program to monitor healthcare and a new study shows the industry is still wary of social media.

Go west, young man…if you want to escape this arctic cold that is. It was another week of super cold weather, snow showing up in unlikely locales (you saw all the memes about Austin, TX, right?), frozen pipes and below zero wind chills. When Anchorage, Alaska is warmer than Atlanta, GA, you know we’re having cold weather here in the east. To make matters worse, another blast of arctic cold is on the way. The only escape seems to be the western part of the country, where temperatures in the 80’s and sunshine are thriving. The rest of us will just have to huddle around the fireplace and catch up on all things compliance, with this week’s News in Review.

The topic of Sunshine and state-accredited CME programs heated things up at a recent continuing education conference. A CMS representative speaking at the conference mistakenly indicated that state accredited CME programs were not exempt under Sunshine. The final rule actually refers to both certified and accredited CME and does not draw any clear lines between the two distinctions. After hearing how the process actually works, the CMS representative realized that the state-accredited CME would qualify for exemption.

The U.S. Supreme Court iced out patent holders in a recent decision. The Court unanimously ruled that patent holders bear the burden of proof in patent infringement cases, even if they received a declaratory judgment. The case at the center of the ruling involved Medtronic and Mirowski Family Ventures,LLC. Mirowski holds patents for implantable heart stimulators, and Medtronic had a license agreement to use those patents. The company claimed Medtronic infringed its patents, but a federal court ruled Mirowski  had not met the burden of proving infringement. The case was appealed and a U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the ruling, saying Mirowski set the events in motion and that there was “no convincing reason why burden of proof law should favor the patentee.”

The FDA has discovered a new way to submit nominations for its advisory committees. The agency announced the launch of an interactive online portal for the submission of advisory committee nominations. Applicants can submit their entire application through the new portal. The FDA says the system will eliminate confusion and accelerate timelines for submission and acceptance.

China is cranking up the thermostat with a campaign to deal with bad manufacturing and marketing practices in healthcare. The inter-departmental campaign involves eight different departments in the Chinese government. Officials hope to also use the program to deepen reform efforts in medical services.

A new report shows much of the industry still feels chilly about social media. The report from IMS Health indicated that 23 of the top 50 companies worldwide are using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. However, only 10 of the companies are using all three, and very few are using social media to engage patients. Most are using social media as a way to deliver messages intended for providers and patients alike. Companies with a small therapeutic focus tend to use social media more to engage the patient. In an interesting twist, the study also found that regulators are quite active on social media. The FDA and EMA post high index reach scores, and the FDA scored higher than any pharmaceutical company on IMS’ relationship scale.

We certainly hope everyone stays warm and safe as the next arctic express heads east. We’ll be venturing out into it ourselves for CBI’S 11th Annual Pharmaceutical Compliance Congress. If you’re there, stop by our booth in the exhibit hall to say  hi and see a demo of our new Compliance Curriculum Refresher Training series.

Stay warm everyone!

Week in Review, January 21, 2014

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The Serious Fraud Office adds Deferred Prosecution Agreements to its arsenal, doctors in the UK are looking for more transparency and one generic drug manufacturer gives up on China.

The teams for Super Bowl XLVII are set! The Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos will do battle in New Jersey in February. Hmm, New Jersey…in February. Nothing against the Garden State (for many of us, it is home), but wouldn’t a warmer climate be more inviting for those with a ticket? Barring any blizzards, the game should be exciting as the top offense and top defense in the NFL face off. We know we’ll be tuned in, but until then there’s other news to address. Let’s kickoff this week’s News in Review.

February is shaping up to be a big month for the Serious Fraud office as well. Beginning next month, the SFO will be able to utilize Deferred Prosecution Agreements as a tool to deal with corporate bribery. The advantage to the SFO and to corporations is that agreements can be negotiated without prolonged court cases or the eventual debarment for corporations if they were found guilty through a trial. Implementing DPAs will bring its own set of challenges though. Judges in certain jurisdictions in the UK prefer justice to be doled out in court and not in advance. Consultation with judges prior to an agreement being signed should help, but the judges are not bound to accept the agreements. That leads to an issue of consistency in the process. If companies can’t rely on agreements being ratified by judges, they will be less likely to engage in the negotiations.

British doctors and academics teamed up to ask for more transparency in physician conflicts of interest. In an open letter appearing in the British Medical Journal, the group called on the General Medical Council to set up a general registry for physicians’ conflicts of interest. The letter cited an ABPI estimate that nearly 40 million pounds are paid to physicians by the pharmaceutical industry, and that the recipients of those payments are largely unknown. The letter said transparency into just who is receiving those payments “can only be good for medical practice.” A spokesperson from the GMC said that it could not require doctors to disclose payments without a change in law.

Generic drug maker Activis is scrapping its China playbook. The company announced it would cease operations in China. It’s CEO said China was not a “business friendly environment,” and there is too much risk in doing business there. The company has a small profile in China, and while it has not run into the issues some other pharmaceutical companies have of late, the CEO said he wasn’t confident that if anything did happen, the company would get a fair hearing.

2013 was another record setting year for False Claims Act recoveries, according to the DOJ. The DOJ collected $3.8 billion during the 2013 fiscal year. Of the $3.8 billion, $2.6 billion was from healthcare fraud recoveries. The majority of that $2.6 billion was from settlements with pharmaceutical industry companies.

Congress is calling for a review following CMS’ explanation for why payments for textbooks and journal reprints are not excluded from Sunshine reporting. The explanation provided by CMS did not sit well with members of Congress, and some are exploring options for changing the requirement. An aide to Maryland Representative Andrew Harris said the Congressman plans to add language to an appropriations bill to halt the collection of the data.

The fourth quarter’s here and it’s time to wrap this thing up. Before we dump the bucket of virtual sports drink over the head of this week’s Review though, we have to ask if you feel confident with your compliance training lineup for 2014. Do you need to add a new player or get back to training on the basics? The PharmaCertify™ suite of compliance training solutions includes two key players – Good Promotional Practices offers a comprehensive review of compliant product promotion practices and concepts for your sales team, and Commercial Compliance Overview is a comprehensive review of commercial compliance for your entire staff.

Have a great week everyone!

New Week in Review, November 18, 2013

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The APBI amends its Code of Practice, a doctor in Scotland looks for Sunshine, PhRMA sues the state of Maine over drug importation, and a congressman from New Jersey seeks clarification on how food provided to CME program speakers and attendees is reported.

The big day is almost here…if you have a tween or teenager, you are probably well aware that the long-awaited opening of the film, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, is this Friday! With a number of theaters premiering the film a day early, we’re left with precious few hours to practice our skills for the archery tournament and best braid contest. But before we prepare for our time in the Arena, we pause to present you with a week’s worth of compliance news, with the News in Review.

Our first “tribute” comes courtesy of the ABPI, whose members have agreed to amend the Code of Practice to include greater transparency on payments made to HCPs and healthcare organizations. APBI’s chief executive views the changes to the Code as an important first step in correcting the public’s misconception of the relationship between the industry and HCPs. According to a recent British Medical Journal article, he may be onto something. The article reported the results of a recent survey, which found 90% of the nearly 1,055 respondents felt that payments to HCPs should be made public.

As the ABPI moves on with determining the details of its transparency program, a Scottish doctor is hoping a Sunshine Act style law will “catch fire” in his country. The physician has petitioned the government to create a Sunshine Act of Scotland, which would publicly disclose payments to NHS healthcare professionals.

A compliance uprising has been started in Maine as PhRMA and several Maine pharmacy associations are suing the state over its drug importation law. The law allows Maine’s citizens to obtain prescription drugs pharmacies in Canada and from licensed retail pharmacies in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. PhRMA, and the other plaintiffs, say the law violates the U.S. Constitution and federal laws that control the sale of drugs.

If you’re looking for more information on Open Payments and data submission, CMS has announced a series of webinars, designed to introduce features of the Open Payments system, on November 19. While the webinars are targeted to manufacturers and individuals responsible for creating data submission files for manufacturers, anyone is welcome to attend. A follow up question and answer session will be held December 3.

Speaking of “hunger games,” the language regarding meals at CME events continues to cause confusion. So much so that New Jersey Congressman Robert Andrews sent a letter to CMS requesting that the cost of food provided to speakers, faculty AND attendees of CME events be exempt from individual reporting requirements.

The rule already exempts the speakers and faculty as long as three requirements are met: the program is accredited by one of five designated organizations; payments or transfers of value are not made by the manufacturer directly to speakers or attendees; and the selection of faculty and speakers is not influenced by the manufacturer.

In his letter, Congressman Andrews points out that CMS has already acknowledged that accreditation bodies and industry standards create safeguards against sponsor involvement in educational content. He says the same logic should be applied to the meals provided to attendees.

Well, that’s the news for this week. We leave you this week with a recommendation for a different type of trilogy – one that weaves a compelling and engaging tale of compliance best practices and risk reduction across a broad array of topics. PharmaCertify’s Compliance Overview, Good Promotional Practices and On-label Promotion eLearning modules offer the regulatory and practical content your sales representatives and office staff need to understand the compliance rules and promotional policies that affect their daily activities. They’ve been met with rave reviews by learners of all ages!

Have a great week and, “may the odds be ever in your favor.”

Week in Review, October 7, 2013

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PhRMA’s assistant general counsel tells physicians the industry is spending millions to avoid reporting mistakes, Canada takes steps to limit access to physicians, and two different whistleblower cases are dismissed.

The PharmaCertify™ Team
In case you missed it, last Thursday was National Techie’s Day. So, if you find yourself lining up extra early outside the Apple store on the day of a new product release, or you can’t help but play armchair engineer while watching The Big Bang Theory, or you have a room in your house with enough computer equipment to launch a space shuttle…you probably had a good week. Rather then regale you with the celebratory details of our parking lot robot battles, we’ll stick with this week’s News in Review.

Garbage in, garbage out, or GIGO, in techie nomenclature, is what PhRMA says its members are working hard to avoid in their forthcoming Sunshine reports. Speaking to a gathering of family physicians, PhRMA’s assistant general counsel, Kendra Martello, said member companies are spending millions to ensure the accuracy of reports as much as possible. She emphasized that disputes between physicians and manufacturers are not good for anyone, but admitted that the industry is unsure of what to expect in the way of physician disputes when the first reports roll out.

A Canadian medical school is rebooting its policy regarding doctors’ contact with industry representatives. The North Ontario School of Medicine is creating a policy that would limit doctors’ contact with representatives. The dean of the school, Roger Strasser, acknowledged the importance of physicians having access to medical information, but only if that information is unbiased and well-researched. He said the policy would be more of a guideline than a rule.

Sanofi’s CEO, Chris Viehbacher, believes the industry needs to interface more with the Chinese government in order to deal with corruption in China. While speaking about doing business in emerging markets, Viehbacher said the industry needs to support the Chinese government’s efforts to deal with the corruption. He went on to say that all the companies under investigation have been cooperating with the government.

A federal judge has resorted to a forced quit shutdown of a misbranding suit against Amgen. The whistleblower in the case, who is a physician, and a co-complainant rejected the $1.8 million settlement they were to share as a result of a federal settlement with the company last year. The judge said that since original settlement was rejected, the government had the right to determine that nothing further could be litigated, so the whistleblower’s case was tossed.

The techies at Google have done an about face and are now offering Business Associates Agreements (BAA) for users of three of its apps, Gmail, Drive and Calendar. The BAAs do not cover any Protected Health Information transferred from one of the three apps to another Google app.

A whistleblower suit against the medical technology company, Masimo, has been dismissed. Three former sales reps brought the suit, saying the company had promoted two of its patient monitoring devices for off-label uses and improperly billed the government. The sales reps also claimed the company withheld sales data and interfered with subpoenas for sales records issued to federal insurance companies. The judge dismissed the case, saying the plaintiffs failed to provide any evidence that the company knowingly promoted the products for off-label use.

And with that, we reach the end of another News Week in Review. We close out this celebration of all things technical by asking if you are making the most of technology to deploy your compliance training solutions. The PharmaCertify™ eLearning modules and iPad apps are designed to deliver critical compliance content where your team needs it most – in the field and at their fingertips.

Have a great week everyone!

Week in Review, August 12, 2013

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The PharmaCertify Team

Break out those LPs and dust off your turntable, Monday was Vinyl Record Day! Count us among those who still miss that crackling and popping quietly emanating from our favorite disco, rock or R&B album. And we can’t forget all of that amazing cover art – Kansas, Left Overture, Yes, Relayer, or of course the Beatles, Sargeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, just to name a few. Before we lose ourselves (and you) too deeply in the musical formats and artwork of yesteryear, we first turn our attention to the rhythm and blues of this week’s News in Review.

Allegations of bribery by pharmaceutical companies in China continue to spin. Documents provided to a Chinese media outlet accuse Sanofi of paying $280,000 in bribes to over 500 doctors. In the documents, a whistleblower claims doctors were paid 80 yaun every time a patient bought one of the company’s drugs. Sanofi officials claim they are taking the allegations very seriously, but made no comment as to whether they were conducting their own investigation.

The DOJ is marching firmly to the False Claims drum beat, as the agency has filed a brief asking a federal appeals court to overturn a decision by a US district court against Takeda. The whistleblower suit claimed the company hid adverse events associated with a pair of drugs, causing those drugs to be prescribed more often than if the adverse events had been known, and subsequently causing false claims to be submitted. A U.S. district court judge dismissed the case, saying the whistleblower had failed to provide evidence of the false claims, and the adverse events were not material to the decision by the federal government to pay for the drugs.  The ruling went on to assert that False Claims Act liability could not be premised on failure to report adverse events to the FDA. The DOJ believes that adopting such reasoning could affect the government’s ability to enforce the False Claims Act.

The CME Coalition has a new release to help CME program providers and others navigate the Sunshine Act. The group’s Sunshine Act Compliance Guide provides recommendations on issues like meals for attendees and speakers and unaccredited CME. The guide also features a “compliance decision tree” to help CME program organizers make quick decisions on physician payments.

CMS had a hit of its own with the release of more FAQs on the Open Payments site. The list now includes information on how newsletters that include disease state information should be handled; an answer on whether textbooks donated for general use are reportable; and clarification on the 90 day exclusion for the loan of a medical device.

It’s been more of the same old sad song for reps trying to access oncology practices over the last year. For the second year in a row, oncologists were the most restrictive specialty, with 65% enforcing moderate to severe access restrictions. New products seemed to be the key, as reps carrying a new product saw doctors 10 times per year on average, compared to 7 times per year for those detailing older drugs.

Well, that’s about it for this week’s Review. If you’re looking to round out your compliance training playlist, PharmaCertify’s Good Promotional Practices module covers the “classics,” like gifts, meals and entertainment, while mixing in new topics like promotion through social media.

Have a great week everyone and we’ll see you right back here on this same frequency next week!