Seeking to "Meet and Exceed" DPA Ethics Standards, Zimmer Refines Its Compliance Model
BY LAUREN UZDIENSKI, APRIL 21, 2008
Seven months after the company announced the signing of its Deferred Prosecution Agreement, Zimmer has introduced a revised corporate compliance model designed to "aggressively reduce" conflicts of interest. The updated model includes a number of new safeguards against potential ethical concerns, among them:
-The company is currently reviewing existing consulting arrangements to confirm they comply with fair-market-value principles and developing, with a third party, the compensation structure for future agreements.
-Zimmer will no longer offer gifts to healthcare professionals and will prohibit Zimmer-sponsored physician presentations at medical society events. Additionally, the company will discourage physicians from using quotations, endorsements, images and product-branding other than scientific literature references.
-A third party will oversee and disburse Zimmer's educational and charitable contributions.
-Consultants will participate in annual corporate compliance and ethics training programs, and Zimmer will require them to disclose compensation arrangements to patients, employers and hospitals.
Zimmer CEO David Dvorak said the measures would set a "new standard" for the industry. The program responds to the calls for additional transparency in industry-physician relationships that emerged from DOJ and OIG investigations and have been echoed in legislative efforts like the Physician Payment Sunshine Act. Zimmer's proactive effort to lead the industry in ethics reform will likely be perceived positively by healthcare providers and patients as a sign of true change. It also seems appropriate that Zimmer would spearhead the effort. Though the DPA allowed Zimmer to avoid any admission of wrongdoing, of the five companies named in the settlement with the DOJ, Zimmer was required to pay the most significant financial penalties. The company paid more than half of the $311 million in total fines paid by the industry last year.
