In 2013, 169 pharmaceutical, medical device, and biologic manufacturers reported distributing 53,500 free samples and spending approximately $9.8 million dollars with Vermont health care providers, according to a report released by the Vermont Attorney General’s Office in October. The public data regarding the expenditures was published today; data on sampling is not public but is reported in the aggregate.
As 2013 is the first year in which the Physician Payments Sunshine Provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) preempts some of Vermont’s disclosure requirements, the report places less emphasis on expenditures than in years past and places more focus on sampling data. Although more than a quarter of manufacturers indicated that for 2013 they would not report expenditures to physicians and teaching hospitals that were going to be reported to the federal government under the ACA, expenditure reports in 2013 were more than two million dollars above expenditures to all health care providers in 2012.
Vermont’s Prescribed Products Gift Ban and Disclosure law bans most gifts to Vermont health care providers and requires manufacturers of prescribed products - including pharmaceuticals, biological products and medical devices - to disclose expenditures deemed appropriate by the legislature. The report is based on disclosures for the calendar year 2013.
For a copy of thereportand the publicdata upon which it is based, check the Attorney General’s website at:www.ago.vermont.govunder “Prescribed Product Gift Ban and Disclosure Law” in the A-Z Listing.
Vermont Attorney General: Nov 5, 2014