Maine Updates Their Gift to Physicians Law Online

Maine has posted a revised version of their gifts to physicians law which bans cash payments from pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesalers agents for research, consulting, promotional speaking related payments but exempts educational materials, modest meals, prescription drug samples, honorarium at educational events and education-related funding to institutions. We have previously written about the Maine Legislature passing a new law to prohibit gifts from industry to health care practitioners. On November 1, 2017, the law went into effect and can now be found online for reference. For a refresher, the law amends the Maine Pharmacy Act to prohibit a person engaged in the manufacture of prescription drugs or a person who buys prescription drugs for resale and distribution to persons other than consumers from giving a gift to an individual who is licensed, registered or otherwise authorized in the appropriate jurisdiction to prescribe and administer drugs in the course of that individual's professional practice. However, some significant changes seem to be made to the version listed on the Maine legislative site. Whereas previously there was a list of seven items specifically excluded from the bill, the final legislation does not include that same list.  Instead, the law prohibits manufacturers or wholesalers from offering or giving cash gifts in any amount of a gift for which reciprocity is expected or implied to a health care practitioner. Furt...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs