Massachusetts Officials Approve Rules Limiting Pharmaceutical, Medical Device Companies' Gifts To Physicians

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry;  Medical Devices / Diagnostics;  Public Health
Article Date: 16 Mar 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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Massachusetts officials on Wednesday gave final approval to regulations prohibiting pharmaceutical and medical device firms from giving gifts to doctors, restricting companies' ability to buy doctors meals and requiring that companies report all payments greater than $50 made to doctors for certain types of consulting and speaking work, the Boston Globe reports. The regulations, which the state Public Health Council approved 10-0, were adopted to implement a law passed last year that restricts interactions between physicians and drug and device makers. Lawmakers said the regulations are intended to control costs by reducing unnecessary prescriptions and to make potential conflicts of interest transparent.

Several business groups, including drug, biotechnology and device firms, the hotel and convention industry, and doctors and consumer groups had asked for changes in the rules, but the "final language is close to what the staff of the [state] Department of Public Health proposed in December," the Globe reports. However, "substantive changes" in the final version include a provision requiring companies to disclose all payments to doctors and hospitals for research aimed at promoting a specific product, according to the Globe. The final rules would not require disclosure of funding for research aimed at answering a scientific question. DPH also eliminated a provision that would have allowed firms to provide financial assistance to medical residents and other health professionals-in-training to attend conferences and education courses.

The rules, which take effect July 1, apply to any company doing business in the state. Health officials said the rules are the most restrictive in the nation, as Massachusetts is now the only state to require disclosures by device makers and one of two states to make disclosures public. The first public reporting by firms will be due by July 1, 2010.

Health Care for All Executive Director Amy Whitcomb Slemmer said, "We think this is a victory for consumers. They will know more about the full relationship between industry and their provider." Robert Coughlin, president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, said, "Massachusetts is now seen as the most unfriendly state in the nation toward industry," adding, "In these tough economic times, you don't want to send a chilling message to an industry that's a growth industry" (Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, 3/12).

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