Speak Out. Your Industry Is Counting On You.


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Speak Out. Your Industry Is Counting On You.
By: Steve Slagle, CAE, PPAI President and CEO
Issue: 2009jun

Why is it that such a perfectly good word as “gift” prompts legislators to regulate our industry? And why is it that despite our best efforts to describe the effectiveness of promotional products as a legitimate medium to advertise, market, communicate, reward, incent and motivate, collectively our products and programs are increasingly viewed as unwarranted, unnecessary extravagances, rebates and even bribes? Yes, that term has been used.

What started earlier this decade as a debate about conflicts of interest in the healthcare profession evolved into voluntary guidelines developed by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) governing its members’ interactions with healthcare professionals. The PhRMA voluntary guidelines, also later adopted by the Advanced Medical Technology Association for its members, are serious enough. Running parallel with the PhRMA guidelines are other codes of conduct and best practices being advocated by several professional medical associations (PMAs) such as the American Medical Association.

Driven by the concerns PMAs have about protecting the integrity of their professions and by consumer advocacy groups that want lower healthcare costs, the voluntary codes and guidelines have now morphed into laws and regulations that threaten to ban some or all promotional products from being distributed as advertising reminders and brand identifiers in the healthcare industry.

This scrutiny has driven both state and federal legislators to include promotional products in their definitions of prohibited activities with demands for disclosure about the relationships between healthcare professionals and the manufacturers of drugs, medical devices and medical supplies. Labeled by various names, the state bills require disclosure of payments, gifts, benefits and “transfers of value” made to healthcare professionals.

At the federal level, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act was introduced this year in the U.S. Senate as S. 301 requiring such disclosures. The bill would require manufacturers of drugs, medical devices, biologicals or medical supplies to report payments or transfers of any value to physicians. The law doesn’t establish a minimum dollar amount for each transfer of value—even an item costing a dollar must be reported.

This means if one of those manufacturers provides a promotional product of any value to a physician, it will be subject to the reporting requirements of the bill. Rather than report tens of thousands of transfers of any value, the manufacturers will likely simply stop providing promotional products. Keeping track of all those items would be administratively and economically onerous.

In 2008, Massachusetts implemented tough regulations that prohibit any promotional gifts. Vermont followed suit, along with Connecticut and several other states. The bottom line for our industry is that we’re caught in the wake of the call for more stringent regulation of the healthcare industry, and there’s little regard for the fact that our industry stands to lose $1 billion or more in sales annually as a result. Hundreds of PPAI members have lost sales, jobs and businesses as a result of the regulations and the guidelines’ bans on our industry’s products.

We need your help. Urgently. Now.

Hundreds of our members have responded to our calls to action by writing or e-mailing their state and federal legislators to oppose the Physician Payments Sunshine Act and similar state legislation. Hearing from a constituent is a powerful incentive for our elected leaders to pause, consider their actions and learn more about the consequences of the laws and regulations they propose.

Already we’ve seen success in Minnesota, Oregon, New Mexico and Colorado as harmful legislation has been tabled, defeated, withdrawn or changed. But even more effort is required. Go to our website at PPAI LAW (www.capwiz.com/ppa/home) for information on S. 301 and instructions on how you can call, fax, e-mail or write your representatives in Washington. You’ll see some easy and appropriate ways to cut through the clutter of messages reaching Congress.

Your Association is leading the charge. We’ve hired another lobbyist to focus attention on this one issue. We’ve issued dozens of Action Alerts calling attention to the proposed laws, and we’re mobilizing our members through regional associations to gain the grassroots efforts that mean more than anything a lobbyist can accomplish alone.

Let your voice be heard on one of the most important business challenges our industry has ever faced. It’s an issue that, at the end of the day, could affect the survival of our industry and businesses. It’s that important!

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