Healthcare Marketing in a New Ethical Climate
Today’s New York Times reports that the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine has come out with a report recommending that doctors stop taking much of the money, gifts and free drug samples that they routinely accept from drug and device companies. This comes on the heals of similar reports by the Association of American Medical Colleges (which last year proposed tough new rules governing interactions between companies and medical schools), the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (which last July released updates to its voluntary Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals that took effect in January 2009), and the Advanced Medical Technology Association (the revised Code of Ethics prohibit gifts of any type, including all non-educational branded promotional items, regardless of value).
Given the slew of new ethical guidelines and gifting rules, it can be mind-boggling trying to understand the options for marketing to healthcare professionals. But never fear! Even with the new rules in place, there are still a variety of ways to reach out to medical professionals. For example, the PhRMA Code allows the gifting of “items designed primarily for the education of patients or health care professionals” if the items are valued at under $100 and don’t have value to health professionals outside of their work environment. So, under these guidelines, you could give out an anatomical model to be used in an exam room, but not a DVD player with a DVD explaining anatomy (because the DVD player has a use outside of the medical environment).
The key for promotional products distributors such as ourselves is to become well-versed in the educational needs of physicians and their patients. In this way, we can better advise our customers – particularly those who are marketing and selling to the healthcare industry – how to strengthen their brand in a way that is ethically acceptable.