Vermont Acts to Make Drug Makers’ Gifts Public

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Vermont Acts to Make Drug Makers’ Gifts Public

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Under a new Vermont law, drug and device manufacturers will have to

publicly disclose all gifts (in direct payments, speaking and consulting fees,

grants, food, lodging and transportation, and books) they make to healthcare

providers. The law will require specific disclosure of doctors’ names,

dollar amounts, and the medical products to which the spending is pegged. The

state’s previous law required only general information. The law will also

ban free meals for doctors, which currently make up 29% of the $2.9 million in

payments made by medical product companies to doctors in Vermont.

 

The New York Times believes that _the law, scheduled to take effect on

July 1, is the most stringent state effort to regulate the marketing of medical

products to doctors_

(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/business/20vermont.html) . It would also ban

nearly all industry gifts to doctors, nurses,

medical staff, pharmacists, health plan administrators and healthcare

facilities.

 

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