Category: Gift ban
Gift ban for the Mass Device Kit
A provision to spike the Commonwealth's ban on gifts for physicians from medical device and pharmaceutical companies did not make it into the final omnibus economic development bill on Beacon Hill, meaning the gift ban is still on, for now.
It looks like the Massachusetts "gift ban" won’t be repealed after all.
A provision to spike the Commonwealth's ban on gifts for physicians from medical device and pharmaceutical companies failed to make it into the final omnibus economic development bill on Beacon Hill, meaning the gift ban remains intact unless the legislature brings up the issue again next session.
The Mass. House of Representatives voted to kill the 2008 gift ban law in early July.
Harvard Medical School institutes a strict policy governing industry contact with the 11,000 physicians on its faculty.
Harvard Medical School is jumping on the gift band bandwagon with a sweeping policy to regulate contact by its 11,000 faculty members with the medical device and pharmaceutical industries.
The school's new policy, slated to go into effect Jan. 1, 2011, will bar HMS faculty from delivering promotional talks for device and drug makers and from accepting personal gifts, travel, or meals, according to a report in The Boston Globe.
A Mass. House vote to repeal the Bay State's ban on industry payments to physicians has supporters hoping the state Senate follows suit — and opponents hoping the ban stays in place.
The inclusion of a repeal of the "gift ban" law in economic development legislation that passed the Mass. House of Representatives on a 145-4 vote has pleased many in the medical device industry.
Richard Packer, CEO of Chelmsford, Mass.-based cardiac device maker Zoll Medical Corp. (NSDQ:ZOLL), told MassDevice that it's "silly" that a doctor can visit Zoll but the company isn't allowed to serve them a sandwich.
Mass. House of Representatives votes to kill the 2008 gift ban law aimed at diminushing pharmaceutical and medical device industry's influence over physicians.
By State House News Service
Reversing course on a new law aimed at diminishing the influence on doctors by pharmaceutical and medical device companies, the House on Wednesday voted to strike the so-called gift ban law, which critics say has hurt commerce in the medical and restaurant industries. An amendment to preserve the ban attracted 40 votes, with 108 against.
The elimination of the gift ban was included in economic development legislation that cleared the House 145-4 and now needs to be reconciled with a Senate bill in a conference committee.
A survey of nearly 600 physicians and medical students shows that their attitudes toward gifts and payments from the medical device and pharmaceutical industries are positive, with most respondents saying "marketing-oriented activities" are appropriate, according to the Archives of Surgery.
Gift bans may be all the rage on the federal and local level, but they're not seen as a dire necessity among physicians, according to a survey of nearly 600 doctors.
The anonymous study revealed that 72.2 percent of the doctors surveyed believe industry-sponsored meals and other "small gifts related to clinical practice" are appropriate and a quarter consider large gifts appropriate. Although gifts as significant as vacations were perceived as acceptable by only 10.3 percent of the surveyed docs, gifts such as textbooks received a 83.2 percent favorability rating.
Restauranteurs in Massachusetts are seeking an exemption from the state's so-called "gift ban" on payments to physicians from the medical device and pharmaceutical industries.
By Kyle Cheney, State House News Service
Massachusetts restaurateurs hurting for business in an unsettled economy and frustrated by lawmakers' willingness to exempt casinos from alcohol service limits are pleading with lawmakers to give them a break this week, over the objection of patient advocates.
Legislation circulating in the Mass. House of Representatives would kill the 2008 gift ban governing industry relationships with physicians.
An omnibus economic development bill wending its way through the Mass. House of Representatives would put paid to the Bay State's two-year-old "gift ban" governing the relationship between the medical device and pharmaceutical industries and physicians.
The gift ban, passed in 2008 and put into effect last year, was aimed at reducing the influence of Big Pharma and device makers over healthcare. It requires companies to report any cash gift of more than $50 to a public database and mandates outright bans on gifts like promotional pens, meals, tickets and other boondoggles.