WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 AdvaMed-MA-veto-bill
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) urges Gov. Deval L. Patrick to veto the "Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturer Conduct" provision in S. 2863 because of the threat it poses to quality patient care and the interactive and collaborative process between physicians and companies critical to future innovation.
"We are committed to ethical arrangements and ensuring that interactions between industry and health care providers enhance the public's health and foster public confidence. Unfortunately, this legislation would impede important interactions with providers and could drive this critical research and development out of state," said Stephen J. Ubl, president and CEO of AdvaMed.
"Unlike other segments of the health care sector, medical technology is often developed and refined based on input from physicians who have direct and constant feedback from their patients. Training by manufacturers to providers is often critical to the safe use of complex technology," said Ubl.
AdvaMed believes Gov. Patrick should veto this flawed legislation due to the following concerns:
-- Easily discernible and relevant information on marketing practices will not be achieved if each state adopts its own code of conduct for device and drug marketing.
-- It is impractical and potentially unworkable to force-fit drugs and devices under a single code of conduct, since devices are developed, marketed, and used by physicians and patients in a very different manner. Additionally, both industries already have in place comprehensive and robust industry codes of ethics.
-- In order to protect proprietary information about a company's products under development from competitors, consulting arrangements with physicians should be disclosed only after a product is approved or cleared by the FDA, consistent with the recently enacted clinical trials provisions of the federal FDA Amendments Act.
"America's medical device manufacturers believe that patients should have full confidence that the only factor influencing a physician's decision-making is the best interests of the patient," said Ubl. To that end, AdvaMed supported the revised Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2007 (S. 2029) sponsored by Senator Charles E. Grassley and Senator Herb Kohl.
"In addition, AdvaMed's Code of Ethics, adopted in 2003, is tailored to the unique interactions among the medical device industry and health care professionals, to preserve ethical collaborations that fuel advances in medical technology and ensure patient access to the most advanced technologies."
The AdvaMed Code of Ethics encourages voluntary, ethical interactions between its member companies and health care professionals, and draws a clear distinction between interactions that advance medical technology and those that influence decision-making inappropriately.
The Code specifically addresses arrangements with consultants, member-sponsored product training and education, support of third-party educational conferences, sales and promotional meetings, gifts, provision of reimbursement coding information, and grants and charitable donations.
The Code states that compensation of physicians should not be linked to the value of business generated, that physicians be compensated according to clear principles and fair market values, and that, in general, there be clearly articulated rules up front about the work to be provided and the compensation to be paid.
For more information on the AdvaMed Code, please visit: www.advamed.org
AdvaMed member companies produce the medical devices, diagnostic products and health information systems that are transforming health care through earlier disease detection, less invasive procedures and more effective treatments. Our members produce nearly 90 percent of the health care technology purchased annually in the United States and more than 50 percent purchased annually around the world. AdvaMed members range from the largest to the smallest medical technology innovators and companies. For more information, visit http://www.advamed.org/.
SOURCE AdvaMed
