The MMA staff has posted the Annual Report of the Legislative Committee, a summary PowerPoint presentation, and other advocacy resources on the MMA web site here.

This week, we'll highlight a bill that prohibits some gifts from manufacturers and wholesalers of drugs and medical devices to practitioners.  It is L.D. 911, An Act to Prohibit Certain Gifts to Health Care Practitioners (P.L. 2017, Chapter 267). The bill essentially codifies into law gift limits that are already dealt with in AMA and medical technology (AdvaMed) ethics codes.

The new law prohibits licensed manufacturers and wholesalers from offering or giving health care practitioners the following:

• Cash gifts in any amount
• Gifts for which reciprocity is expected or implied
  

• Drug samples for distribution to patients
• Educational materials
• Modest meals and refreshments, which will be defined by Board of Pharmacy rules, in connection with meetings or presentations about the seller's product..."as long as the meeting or presentation occurs in a venue and manner conducive to informational communication"
• Funding to academic institutions and residency and fellowship programs to support participation in professional and educational meetings, but the funds are to be distributed without specific attribution to sponsors
• Reasonable honoraria and reimbursement of reasonable expenses, defined by the Board, for professional or educational conferences and meetings.
  

As one can see from the language of the statute and its placement in the part of the law governing pharmacy, it governs the actions of manufacturers and sellers and is not intended or designed to punish practitioners.

Since the effective date of all 2017 enactments has passed, this law is currently in effect.