Managing Commercial Support: UAB entities

Process for Managing Commercial Support

Commercial, non-commercial, and exhibitor support

An educational activity can seek and obtain commercial support, but there are strict rules governing the role of a commercial supporter in any education event and how that support is applied. The key points to note are:

  1. The ACCME's definition of a commercial entity is:
    • A commercial interest is any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.
  2. All funds from a commercial entity must come through UAB - the terms, conditions, and purposes of commercial support must be documented in a written agreement.
    • The agreement must include the provider (that's UAB CME), even if the support is given directly to the provider's educational partner or joint provider
  3. That last part about "...even if the support is given directly to..." - doesn't mean anything here at UAB because our institution will not sign a third party agreement, so all commercial funding must come through UAB
  4. We have an institution-approved letter of agreement (LOA) that we prefer to use for all commercial support agreements; however, many supporters prefer to use their own template
    • Our approved LOA is routed through the office of university contracts. They charge 5% for review and processing.
    • Any non-approved LOA must be reviewed by the office of sponsored programs (OSP). OSP takes a 10% slice of any contract it reviews and processes
  5. An individual who is an employee of a commercial entity can only be involved in a CME event under a very limited set of circumstances
  6. If you have any doubts about how to deal with commercial support, call us - the ACCME takes a very dim view of failure to follow guidelines on commercial support