The ACCME on April 17th posted ACCME summary of March 08 board of directors meeting.
Key Points:
A) Expanding office (adding more office space)
B) Has plenty of money ($5,000,000 in net assets)
C) They are expanding their education initiatives to include physicians and other healthcare providers
D) The board met with the Chief Council of the US HHS Office of Inspector General, and an assistant councilor (wouldn’t it be interesting to know what they learned).
E) Offered that the board agreed “that under some circumstances, organizations that are currently exempted from being considered an ACCME-defined commercial interest could become one when they own all or part of an entity that is aligned in partnership with a firm taking an FDA-regulated product to market.
a. This may mean that additional provider types (Hospitals, Universities, and Medical Societies) may in the future come under the same rules as medical communications companies and have to adopt firewall policies that are submitted and acceptable to the ACCME. (See Ask ACCME Standards for Commercial Support 1: Independence)
b. This was in response to a December 17, 2007 meeting by NAMMECC and the Coalition for Healthcare Communications with the ACCME senior leadership.