FCPA

2014 Year in Review

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2015 is upon us! It seems like only yesterday we were posting our 2014 Compliance Year in Review. Time sure does fly! We here at the Compliance News in Review wish you and yours the best for a happy and healthy 2015. But don’t toss out that warm glass of sparkling cider or noisemaker yet. It’s time to take a look back at a year’s worth of news, with the Compliance News Year in Review – 2014 Edition.

Our countdown begins with what had to be the big story of 2014 – the never ending saga of Open Payments and the Sunshine Act. The year began with a two-phase registration and data submission process for Applicable Manufacturers and GPOs. Phase 1 opened in February and Phase 2 was supposed to start in May. As it turned out, Phase 2 was delayed until June and was deployed in two phases itself, and not without some technical difficulty. So much so that PhRMA petitioned CMS to extend Phase 2 by as much as 30 days.

The registration of physicians and the opening of the review and dispute period represented the next big milestones. That’s when the fireworks really started. Physicians had problems registering, and when they could finally view the data, there were significant problems – confusing “error” messages, missing payments, payments attributed incorrectly. CMS took the system down to correct the problems, and extended the review and dispute period to accommodate for the time the system was down. When Open Payments opened back up for physicians, almost one-third of manufacturer records were “missing.” Eventually, CMS said the records were withheld due to data matching problems. A number of issues were identified that caused the data to disappear. The primary offenders appeared to be state license numbers and NPI numbers submitted by manufacturers and GPOs that did not exactly match what CMS had in its database for those identifiers. Despite all the delays and problems, CMS said the September 30th date for making payment records public would stand, minus the withheld records. Those records would be published by June 30 of the next year.

September 30th came, data was published, and all was right with the world, right? Onward to 2015! Not so fast there dear readers. As we all spent time regretting those unfortunate photos taken at the office Christmas party, CMS elves were busy at work. The agency released 68,000 records that were previously withheld, notified users that Open Payments would be unavailable for most of January to allow time for system maintenance, and announced it will be hosting an Open Payments Q&A in early 2015.

Yes, it was a full year of Open Payments fun, but the news surrounding the data was not all CMS had up its transparency sleeve. The agency notified stakeholders that changes were on the way for Sunshine’s Final Rule. The one change that sparked the most debate was the removal of the exemption for payments to physicians speaking at accredited CME events. Medical societies, physician groups and CME providers were staunchly opposed to the change, but it was still made official in October. The change will take effect in 2016 but it may not be the end of the road for the exemption. A bipartisan bill was proposed to exempt indirect CME payments, as well as the value of medical textbooks and reprints.

Other news of note on the transparency front for 2014 included the passage of a law in Connecticut that requires the reporting of industry payments to nurse practitioners; Minnesota making good on the Board of Pharmacy’s notification that payments to nurse practitioners and others would be required in 2015 reports; and the changes in transparency requirements to the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct.

The cork popped on GSK’s bribery woes in 2014. The company was one of several pharmaceutical companies under investigation by the Chinese government for allegations of bribery. The company announced it was investigating potential bribery in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Poland, and Syria. GSK enhanced its compliance efforts in China and fired several employees over failure to adhere to expenses rules. In the fall, it was able to close the book on the Chinese investigation with a fine of close to $500 million dollars. The head of China operations and four other executives were sentenced in the matter, but all had their jail sentences suspended and avoided actual jail time. The head of China operations, a British national, was deported. The company could still face legal action from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office for violating bribery laws.

The FDA resolved it would make the July 2014 deadline for social media guidance, and it actually did! Three draft guidance documents related to social media were published. One document is related to the submission of advertising content, and the other two dealt with actual postings on social media platforms. The guidance on correcting misinformation on social media platforms applies to correcting independent user-generated content, and not content generated by a company, its employees or agents.

The more anticipated document, and the one that drew the most criticism, deals with the posting of information on character-limited platforms, such as Twitter. Some companies feel the FDA has basically restricted them from using character-limited platforms to promote their products due to strict requirements around presenting risk and benefit. The Washington Legal Foundation and the Medical Information Working Group said the guidance infringes upon manufacturers First Amendment rights.

And there you have it, our choices for top stories of 2014. What will be the “big news” of 2015? If we were betting people, we’d put money on Open Payments and Sunshine being the stories that generate the most headlines. With a full year’s worth of spend data hitting the system for the first time, expect more hiccups. Also, a full year’s worth of data is likely to reveal even more issues and have the pundits buzzing. Transparency overseas will likely make news in 2015, as EFPIA member associations and Medicines Australia members begin collecting data for disclosure in 2016.

There was a noticeable lack of big dollar enforcement cases in healthcare fraud and FCPA cases last year. While the DOJ could boast upwards to $2 billion in healthcare fraud recoveries for the 2014 fiscal year, there were no billion or multibillion dollar settlements with life sciences companies. The crystal ball is a little cloudy on that front. Was 2014 the calm before the next storm, or has the season of the multimillion to billion dollar settlements with pharma and med device companies come to an end?

FCPA enforcement actions were in a bit of a lull through at least the first half of 2014 compared to years past. The DOJ ended the year on a big note though, with its Alstom settlement. As far as we’re concerned, it’s been a little too quiet lately where FCPA enforcement is concerned, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see more activity in 2015. Don’t be surprised if we see actions against the handful of pharma companies that were accused of passing bribes in China in 2013.

Whatever 2015 brings, we’ll be writing about it through our weekly Compliance News in Review. Have a great year everyone and as always, thanks for reading!

Week in Review, December 10, 2014

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The Serious Fraud Office gains its first conviction under the U.K. Bribery Act, Sanofi is charged with kickback violations, and CMS unveils new tools and user guides in the Open Payments system.

Well, we’re smack dab in the middle of it now. There’s no escaping the mire, so just give in and go with the flow. The Christmas shopping season is in full swing. Daily Doorbuster specials, circling the mall parking lot repeatedly looking for a space to park…yes, the joys of the season are upon us. As you lick your wounds from another weekend of retail madness and mayhem, we offer a brief respite, with this week’s Compliance News in Review.

Gift giving is certainly a joy of this season, but you don’t want it to land you on the naughty list during an FCPA investigation. This list of ten tips to consider when giving business gifts can help keep a company on the nice list. Tips include making sure the gift is permitted under the local law where the recipients is based and recording gifts routinely in company books and records.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has tied a bow around its first conviction under the U.K. Bribery Act. Two individuals were found guilty in a case that involved the sale of biofuel investment interests to U.K. investors. The defendants were found to have created fake invoices that allowed them to collect large commissions from the investors. Legal experts say the case makes it clear that the SFO will pursue individuals for private sector bribery.

Sanofi, its former CEO, and several other executives have been accused of overfilling the stockings of doctors, pharmacists and hospitals. A whistleblower suit, filed by a former Sanofi paralegal, claims she was fired when she raised concerns over several contracts that paid consultants to pass along kickbacks to doctors, pharmacies and hospitals. The kickbacks were allegedly offered in return for prescribing or purchasing the company’s diabetes drug. Former CEO, Chris Viehbacher said the accusations are “entirely baseless and are categorically false.” The company says it will vigorously defend the suit.

AstraZeneca and Ranbaxy won’t need to return the present they received in a pay-for-delay case. A jury decided that a deal between the two companies, which delayed a generic version of Nexium, was large and unjustified, but was not anticompetitive. A Ranbaxy spokesperson stated “the jury understood the facts of the case and was not swayed by wishful thinking on the part of the plaintiffs.”

CMS donned the Santa cap as it handed out several “gifts” last week for Open Payments users. The agency released an improved physician and manufacturer search tool, updated physician lists and revised user guides. CMS also announced it would soon provide reference information for the 2014 program year, including an overview of the timeline and updates on system enhancements.

If new commercial compliance training is on your holiday wish list, PharmaCertify™ from NXLevel Solutions, offers updated training on critical topics like global transparency, the Anti-kickback Statute, on-label promotion, and the False Claims Act. To see a demo of our eLearning modules and mobile apps, contact Sean Murphy at smurphy@nxlevelsolutions.com

That’s all for this week folks. Stay safe out there, and we’ll see you back here next week!

Week in Review, November 26, 2014

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Time to head over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s, or somebody’s house, for turkey, gravy, stuffing and pumpkin pie! Thanksgiving is almost here! The Week in Review staff is excitedly looking forward to a day of family, football (Go Eagles!) and tryptophan. Before we start the food prep and festivities though, we need to take care of a little business first; this week’s Compliance News in Review.

Doctors in Michigan aren’t just talking turkey when it comes to the context that surrounds public disclosure of physician payments under Sunshine. A Michigan news outlet gave the physicians that received the most in payments a chance to provide that context. The five doctors received payments in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. For most, the payments represented royalties for devices they had invented. One physician received in excess of $500K for clinical research. The money did not go to the doctor, but to the clinic for which he works, and he is strictly a research physician. Another received almost $350K in payments for consulting and speaking. This physician is a plastic surgeon who runs a training center to teach other physicians. He says consulting pays 1/10th of what he would receive if he were working in his practice, and therefore is not financially beneficial. All of the doctors profiled said they believed physicians should be upfront with patients about their financial relationships with life sciences companies.

A jury in West Virginia found Takeda destroyed documents related to the drug Actos and ordered the company to pay $155,000. The case was brought by an individual who claimed the destruction of the files prevented him from proving his case that the company failed to provide adequate warnings about the cancer risks associated with the drug. A Takeda spokesperson said the company is considering an appeal.

Recoveries from False Claims Act cases are stuffing the federal treasury. The Department of Justice announced that nearly $6 billion was recovered through the False Claims Act in fiscal year 2014. Housing and mortgage fraud represented the largest amount of recoveries at $3.1 billion. Healthcare fraud recoveries were not too far behind at $2.3 billion. Whistleblower cases resulted in nearly $3 billion in recoveries and the government paid out $435 million in whistleblower awards.

The OIG has released a report of the top challenges and issues facing HHS during fiscal year 2014. The report lists several issues related to Medicare, Medicaid and the federal healthcare exchanges. Number ten on the list, ensuring the safety of food, drugs, and medical devices, should be of particular note for the industry. This challenge primarily addresses problems associated with drug compounding and importation of drugs from foreign countries, but the OIG also cites drug marketing; specifically off-label marketing. According to the report, illegal off-label marketing undermines the system intended to ensure that drugs are safe and effective, and may lead to fraudulent claims for reimbursement being submitted to Medicare and Medicaid.

With that final serving of off-label news, we’ve come to the end of this holiday edition of the Compliance News in Review. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone, and remember, it’s all about that baste.

Week in Review, September 30, 2014

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PhRMA and the DOJ argue the details of the Integrilin case, sentences and a fine are handed down in the GSK Chinese bribery case, more elected officials weigh in on the removal of the CME exclusion from the Sunshine final rule, and the OIG raises concerns over drug coupons and the potential for kickbacks.

The cosmos (and Starbucks – welcome back Pumpkin Spice latte) say fall is officially upon us! Cooler weather is on the way, and so is pumpkin picking and that extra hour of sleep. Time to gather around the fire pit and scarf down a few S’mores! But before we lose ourselves in a soliloquy about the magical mysteries of a great corn maze, we’ll navigate the twists and turns of this week’s News Week in Review.

There’s a certain chill in the air between PhRMA and the DOJ. A few weeks back, we highlighted the story about PhRMA filing a “friend of the court” brief in a whistleblower case involving the off-label promotion of the heart drug, Integrilin. The brief presented the claim that the whistleblower’s arguments raised free speech issues and the organization asked the court to reject the whistleblower’s claims . In a response, the DOJ said PhRMA’s brief did not establish a First Amendment violation. In fact, according to the agency, no precedent existed to support PhRMA’s argument that the False Claims Act could not have been implicated. PhRMA shot back, saying for a person’s speech to knowingly cause a false claim to be submitted there has to be a “direct causal nexus between the speech and the claim” and sharing peer reviewed journals with truthful information about an off-label use does not meet this requirement according.

The summer has ended, and so has the GSK Chinese bribery scandal, with a court levying a $500 million dollar fine against the company. The country manager for GSK and four other executives were found guilty and faced prison terms of up to four years. The Chinese court suspended the sentences, and declared that the country manager, a British national, could be deported. According to the court, all of the country manager and executives pled guilty and had no plans to appeal the verdict. The fine imposed on GSK is the highest fine the Chinese government has ever imposed in a bribery case.

On the Sunshine front, U.S. Representatives Michael Burgess and Frank Pallone sent a letter to CMS expressing concern over the removal of the CME exclusion from the final rule. The two representatives say the current rule provides a clear exemption for payments and transfers of value related to CME, while the proposed changes are ambiguous. Burgess and Pallone ask CMS to carefully consider the comments they have received from stakeholders about the proposed change. Representative Burgess also teamed up with Representative Allyson Schwartz to introduce legislation to exempt textbooks, indirect CME payments and journal articles from the Sunshine Act’s reporting requirements.

Industry trade groups are bobbing for an explanation, again, as to why nearly one-third of data submitted to Open Payment was removed from the system. PhRMA, AdvaMed, and BIO sent a letter to CMS reiterating concerns that the agency still had not provided an explanation as to what happened to the data. The groups are hopeful that the issue can be resolved quickly, so the public can be confident in the accuracy of the data.

According to a report from the OIG, the use of drug coupons could lead to kickback violations. The OIG investigated the use of coupons to purchase drugs covered by Medicare. Nearly 7% of senior citizens reported using coupons to purchase drugs covered by Medicare Part D. Coupons cannot be used to purchase items covered by Medicare Part D and inducing consumers to do so can be considered a kickback. The agency found inconsistencies in how drug companies implemented safeguards on their coupons. Printed coupons tended to have language advising consumers the coupons could not be used for Part D purchases, but only 80% of web coupons included the same language. In addition, nearly one-third of manufacturers surveyed did not include eligibility information for the pharmacists. The OIG recommends CMS work with drug makers to improve the process of identifying patient enrollment in Medicare Part D, and to improve the reliability of pharmacy claims.

FDA’s social media guidance left PhRMA feeling a little chilly. In comments submitted to the FDA, the organization expressed concern that the guidance discourages manufacturers from sharing meaningful information with patients on social media networks. According to the comments, the guidance, as written, places undue responsibility on the manufacturers for what users say about the products.

With that, we close out the post autumnal equinox edition of the Compliance Week in Review. Have a great week everyone and enjoy the colors of fall!

Week in Review, September 17, 2014

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A new study reveals surprising information about FDA panelists and their ties to manufacturers seeking regulatory approval, the DOJ files a False Claims suit against a neurosurgeon and a spinal implant company, the FTC accuses two companies of trying to stymie generic competition for Androgel, and a collection of advocacy groups ask CMS for an indirect payments exemption.

Ahoy there mateys! Stand fast, secure the rigging, and let us hear your best “arrr.” Yes, “Talk Like a Pirate Day” is on the horizon. As you prepare to weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen, we strongly recommend you avoid the parrot on the shoulder idea – that didn’t end well for one of the old salts here at the Week in Review offices last year. The big day isn’t until Friday, so we’ll fill the time with this week’s Compliance News in Review.

It’s not the amount of treasure involved, but rather the type of treasure, that may be more influential in the decisions made by FDA panel members when they decide which drugs to recommend for regulatory approval. A recent study found that panelists who have financial ties only to the drug manufacturer seeking approval are 1.5 times more likely to vote favorably for the company than members with no ties. However panelists who have ties to the company seeking approval and its competitors are no more likely to recommend for approval than those panelists who have no ties. Panelists with multiple relationship may not have a sense of loyalty to any one particular manufacturer. In addition, panelists who serve on advisory boards are more likely to approve a drug than panelists who have research or consulting relationships with the manufacturer.

A physician and spinal implant company have found themselves on the wrong end of a hornswaggle claim by the Department of Justice. The agency has filed a False Claims Act suit against a Michigan neurosurgeon, as well as spinal implant company, Reliance Medical Systems, and two of its distributorships. The company is accused of paying kickbacks through physician-owned distributorships (PODs). The government alleges that the company set up the PODs to induce physicians to use its spinal implants. The physician involved received payments through a POD in which he had an ownership stake. He is also accused of performing unnecessary procedures on patients who did not need spinal implants.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing Abbvie and Besins Healthcare for running a rig and trying to prevent generic competition for the product Androgel. The agency claims the companies filed baseless patent infringement lawsuits in an effort to prevent potential generic competitors from entering the market. While the lawsuits were pending, Abbvie then entered into a pay-for-delay deal with Teva in order to postpone the launch of its generic version of the product. The FTC is asking the court to declare that Abbvie and Besins Healthcare violated the Federal Trade Act, and is seeking disgorgement of profits.

The mutiny against indirect payment disclosures under Sunshine continues to grow. A collection of 64 patient advocacy groups sent a letter to CMS requesting an exemption for indirect payments to the groups. The letter claims drug and device manufacturers have no discretion on how funds provided to patient advocacy groups are directed. It also suggests that the process of determining how a manufacturer’s funds are allocated places an unnecessary administrative burden on the groups.

As we heave to on this week’s journey into the world of compliance, we end with a question: arrr your sales representatives prepared with the up-to-date content on topics like the Sunshine Act, HIPAA, and Good Promotional Practices? The PharmaCertify™ suite of solutions offers your team compliance-focused information where and when they need it most – in the field and at their fingertips.

Have a great rest of the week everyone.

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 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, August 5, 2014

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Industry groups ask CMS to help clarify context of physician payment data, a study finds most physicians have yet to visit the Open Payments website, another medical device company settles a False Claims case and Senator Grassley weighs in on the concept of a gold standard certification for compliance programs.

The calendar tells us the dog days of summer are upon us. Luckily, some of us have had a bit of a “cold spell” recently, so those dog days haven’t had quite the bite they normally do. As you seek ways to deal with the combined heat of the sun and of the Dog Star (as ancient stargazers may have believed), we offer a cool refreshing break of a different sort, with this week’s Compliance News in Review.

Industry and medical groups are putting the heat on CMS. Over 20 medical associations, PhRMA, and BIO sent a letter to CMS asking how the agency plans to help the public understand the nature and purpose of the physician data that will soon be available through Open Payments. The groups cited the recent release of Medicare Part B payments as an example of why they are concerned about proper context. They claim that context was missing when CMS released the Part B data, causing confusion as to which doctors were abusing the system and which were receiving large payments for legitimate reasons. The letter also asked CMS to reach out to the physicians and make them aware that the data will be published soon. Responding to inquiries from the Wall Street Journal, a CMS spokesperson said the agency plans to publish that nature of payments to physicians and teaching hospitals and provide context for the public.

A majority of physicians are slow to step into the Sunshine according to a new survey. The study found only 7% of physicians have visited the Open Payments website and 85% want to review payment data before it is sent to CMS. 80% want to be informed of the value of items before they accept them. The survey also indicates the majority of physicians are concerned with public perception once the data is published. Physicians seem to be more willing to accept certain payments over others. For example, only 16% of physicians said they would no longer accept meals but, 40% say they will no longer accept gifts. The study also addressed companies’ best practices in aggregate spend systems and global transparency.

On the settlement front, medical device company, Vascular Solutions, agreed to pay $520,000 to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act by promoting its product for an unapproved use. The suit was brought by a former sales rep, and alleged the company promoted a kit for the treatment of veins deep in the leg, rather than varicose veins near the surface of the skin, the use for which it has been approved.

No gold stars for compliance programs says Senator Chuck Grassley. At a House subcommittee meeting on the False Claims Act (FCA), several witnesses referenced a Chamber of Commerce report that proposed a program through which companies could be certified as having a “gold standard” compliance program. Companies achieving the certification would be treated differently under the FCA and requirements for whistleblowers would change. In comments following the meeting, Senator Grassley said he was not in favor of a program that provided such a “get out of jail free card.” Grassley is skeptical about companies self-reporting and he claims having a certified compliance program will not change whether they do or do not self-report.

With that, we close our dog days of summer issue of the Week in Review. Have a great week everyone and we’ll see you by the pool!

News Week in Review, July 29, 2014

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Physicians find confusion instead of data on Open Payments, a judge refuses to dismiss the false claims case involving Thalomid, FedEx is facing arraignment this week for shipping illegal drugs, and the SFO is teaming with the Chinese government on the GSK case.

Time to deck the halls and break out the It’s a Wonderful Life DVD. It’s Christmas in July! While the dog days of summer may seem an odd time for sugar plum fairies to be dancing through our heads, we can at least crank the air conditioning, don a really ugly reindeer sweater, and let our imaginations run wild. It’s time to rip the paper and ribbons off this week’s Compliance News in Review.

Some doctors unwrapped a confusing error message when they tried to access information in the Open Payment system last week. July 14th marked the first day physicians and teaching hospitals could access the information that has been reported about them in the system. A number of physicians reported that it took them up to an hour just to log on. Once logged in, some saw a rather ambiguous error message; “You have the following errors on the page. There are no results that match the specified criteria.” Although the physicians were unsure whether this was a bug in the system, or it really meant no payments were in the system, CMS said the message is clear and anyone with questions should call their helpdesk.

The sleigh ride isn’t over yet for Celgene. A federal judge refused to dismiss a false claims case brought against the company by a former salesperson. The case has drawn interest because it raises questions about when manufacturers can discuss the off-label use of products with physicians. According the whistleblower, initial marketing efforts for the drug Thalomid were focused on off-label uses. The company asked for a dismissal, saying the plaintiff failed to state a plausible claim. The judge disagreed, saying the plaintiff’s claims did lay out a sufficient case of wrong doing and that Celgene was “belied by its own evidence.”

The director in the charge of the lab where employees were potentially exposed to anthrax has resigned. Lax adherence to safety protocols in the lab led to the possible exposure. Luckily no one fell ill. An investigation into the incident has found that several other labs, some dealing with dangerous germs, were also not following proper safety protocols. CDC chief, Tom Frieden, said disciplinary action will be taken against those intentionally breaching safety protocol, or those who know of safety breaches but do not report them.

One of Santa’s helpers, FedEx, will be arraigned in federal court this week. The company was indicted for shipping drugs for illegal pharmacies. The government claims it repeatedly warned FedEx about shipping drugs for the pharmacies. FedEx says it ships millions of packages and cannot be responsible for policing the contents of each one. The company says it repeatedly asked for a list of shippers involved in shipping illegal prescription drugs, but was never provided one. United Parcel Service signed a non-prosecution agreement last year over similar charges.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Chinese are caroling together in the GSK investigation. SFO chief, David Green, says this is the first cooperative case between the agency and the Chinese government. Green visited China earlier in the year, and said the Chinese government has a desire to deal with bribery and corruption. The SFO’s interest in GSK has expanded beyond the company’s business in China, and the agency is seeking help from whistleblowers regarding reports of bribery in the Middle East and Europe. GSK chief Andrew Witty says he remains “very concerned” about bribery allegations in China.

Even if you didn’t bother to break out the decorations for Christmas in July, planning for the actual, year-end festivities will be here soon after summer ends. And so will, the need to make your 2015 compliance training plans. The PharmaCertify™ suite of commercial compliance training solutions offers the up-to-date modules and mobile apps your staff needs to help them integrate good compliance practices into their daily activities.

Have a great week everyone, and happy holidays!

Week in Review, July 22, 2014

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The Minnesota Board of Pharmacy confirms that payments to nurse practitioners and PAs must be reported, the FDA issues more Warning Letters, a grand jury indicts FedEx for shipping drugs for illegal pharmacies, and industry funding for CME continues to decline.

With summer in full swing, Major League Baseball took a break from the pennant races for its annual showcase of the best and brightest stars from both leagues…and the ratings were up. In what seems to be the trend lately, the American League came out on top and National League fans were left lamenting the fact that should their team make it to their World Series, they will once again be denied the coveted home field advantage (strange rule indeed). Now, as trade talks heat up and races tighten, we step up to the plate with this week’s News in Review.

First up, we have news from the state that hosted the All Star Game, Minnesota. The Minnesota Board of Pharmacy released a memo confirming that 2014 payments to nurse practitioners, physician assistants, veterinarians and dental technicians must be reported in May 2015. The Board advised manufacturers to begin tracking data for these professionals since it expected the legislature to require companies to report those payments.

Batting second this week is the always confusing topic of social media. The FDA recently issued an Untitled Letter to Gilead and a Warning Letter to Zarbee’s Naturals regarding the company’s use of social media for product promotion. In its letter to the company, the FDA cited an ad that used Google’s AdWords. The ad neglected to provide risk information, and the drug was misbranded. The ad also did not include the generic name of the product and only featured the brand name in a couple of URLs listed in the ad. Zarbee’s Warning Letter focused on the use of Facebook “likes.” The FDA equates “likes” top promotions and the company “liked” several customer testimonials on its page.

Companies that manufacture products for human use aren’t the only ones running afoul of the FDA’s promotion regulations. A Warning Letter was issued recently to the French pharmaceutical facturer, AB Science, for the off-label marketing of a veterinary drug. The letter cited several off-label statements on a product website. The FDA also noted that the company neglected to list important safety information on the product website and other promotional material.

The federal government took a swing at FedEx recently when a federal grand jury indicted FedEx for shipping drugs for illegal pharmacies. According to prosecutors, the company was warned for over a decade that they were shipping drugs for illegal pharmacies, but that those warnings went unheeded. Rather, the company “departed from its usual business practices” to continue shipping the drugs. According to prosecutors top managers at FedEx approved the continued shipping to known illegal pharmacies. A senior vice president for FedEx said the company was innocent of the charges levied against it, and would plead not guilty.

It’s a single for industry support of CME…a single digit decline in funding that is. According to the ACCME’s Annual Report, industry funding of accredited CME dropped by 1.9% in 2013. Support from industry represents 27% of all CME income. This is a far cry from 2008, when industry funding represented almost half of CME funding. Physician attendance at CME events was down in 2013 by just over 4%, but attendance by non-physicians was up by 5%.

As we wind down this week’s version of the Week in Review, we offer one last pitch about the importance of reviewing your Sunshine Act training needs – particularly in light of the ongoing activities around Open Payments registration and data review. The PharmaCertify™ eLearning module, The Sunshine Act: The Federal Physician Spend Disclosure Law, is designed to bring your team up to speed on reportable and excluded expenditures, and the information required for submission to CMS.

Have a great week everyone!