OHSU

Gifts

OHSU Revised Gift Policies are Final!

Individual Acceptance of Gifts, Food, Beverages, Travel, and Entertainment

Requirements for the Solicitation and Acceptance of Gifts to OHSU

 

What has changed (and what has not changed) with the policies that were adopted?

  • The final policy on Gifts to Individuals includes the prohibition on individual gifts without regard to dollar value as recommended by national standards. However, this prohibition is limited to those in a "Position of Authority" with respect to the vendor offering the gift. 

  • Position of Authority is defined as: A position in which one does or is expected or anticipated to influence the selection, retention, evaluation, direction, or supervision of a vendor.  Any position that could influence the decision to place business, increase or decrease business, or continue, modify, or terminate a relationship with a vendor.  This includes but is not limited to:
    o    Health care providers with prescription privileges;
    o    OHSU Members with grants who purchase supplies related to the grant activities;
    o    OHSU Members with fiscal authority related to a specific business decision;
    o    A person who is a voting member of a RFP (request for proposals) committee;
    o    Each OHSU employee as to all vendor relationships:
         -  Within the employee's oversight authority;
         -  Where the vendor relationship is a part of a vendor selection process in which the employee participates; and/or
         -  Where the employee exerts or attempt to exert influence over the awarding of business to the vendor; and

    o    Employees with authority over specific financial decisions related to a vendor. 

  • OHSU policy requires that promotional gifts such as mugs, pens, notepads, clocks,  t-shirts, and similar items displaying vendor logos or symbols not be accepted by any OHSU Member (defined as all OHSU officers, employees, faculty, students, trainees, and volunteers).  These items must not be present on OHSU campuses.

  • The Gifts to OHSU policy includes the requirement that food provided at OHSU educational events must be paid for with funds provided to OHSU (as an unrestricted gift) and may not be directly provided by vendors.   

  • Additional requirements for OHSU Members participating in lectures and meetings directly sponsored by industry are outlined in the Gifts to OHSU policy as originally proposed and include that OHSU Members must have control over the content of the presentation, which must reflect a balanced assessment and not be promotional for a particular vendor's product(s).   

  • OHSU policies meet the requirements of the revised Oregon Ethics law.  The Oregon law also limits gifts from OHSU Vendors that may be accepted or solicited by your relatives, including spouse or domestic partner, child, sibling, spouse of sibling, parent, and spouse's parent.   OHSU policy advises you to instruct your relatives about the limitations on their accepting gifts.

 

Read the updated FAQs and one-page summary:

The Integrity Office is happy to meet with schools, departments, and units to assist in education on the final policies. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Gary Chiodo, Chief Integrity Officer, or Dr. Kara Manning Drolet, Associate Director, ORIO/OIO, or call 503-494-8849 (option 3).  We are available to attend department, School, committee, or operational unit meetings to discuss the gifts policies and respond to questions.

 

History of the development of OHSU's gift policies

In the wake of the conflicts of interest scandal at NIH and other academic health and science institutions, the AAMC (American Association of Medical Colleges) and the AAU (American Association of Universities) teamed up to evaluate and update national recommendations for COI policies to reflect new realities. That joint report was issued February 28, 2008. In addition, AAMC charged a task force to study this issue and make policy and procedure recommendations for managing industry gifting practices. That two-year process has been completed and a final report was publicly issued in April, 2008. These reports and a number of other national studies and reports about the COI issue are available for download.

Similarly, an OHSU School of Medicine task force surveyed and evaluated OHSU gift and COI policies as compared to guidelines from various national organizations and other academic health and science universities. As a result of this review, the task force recommended changes to the OHSU Integrity Office.

A key provision of the task force recommendations were a ban against the receipt of any gift to an individual, with no monetary threshold. Schools, units, departments, and divisions would still be able to accept unrestricted gifts from industry, and this policy does not apply to grants (for details, see the FAQs ). This is a reasonable ethical standard and one that will serve OHSU's reputation well.