OHSU

Gifts

Employees and vendors need to know about changes to state law and an initiative to change OHSU policy.

The new Oregon ethics lawalready is in effect. The anticipated OHSU policychange is in development, and not yet in effect. It will follow current national guidance and will be more restrictive than the state law. It also will be simpler and more aspirational.

We recognize that you may have questions. For answers to questions, download the COI and Gift FAQ's, direct any questions to the Integrity Office, or call 503-494-8849

Two Very Important Changes

  • The new state law includes a $50 annual limiton gifts and has extensive and potentially time-consuming documentation requirements.

  • The draft policy is likely to be anabsolute prohibition on individual giftswithout regard to dollar value. This is a high ethical standard and is not unique to OHSU. The new OHSU policy is still in development, and will be both simpler and more aspirational than the state law.


Changes in Oregon Law

A new law, which went into effect on January 1, 2008, imposes a $50 annual limit on gifts to a public employee by outside people or organizations with an “administrative interest” in the public body (“vendors”). An administrative interest is:

An economic interest that is distinct from that of the general public and is related to a proposal or other matter subject to the action or vote of the public official.

The employee must have an official position or exercise some type of authority over the area of economic interestfor these restrictions to apply. Applicable relationships include:

  • Providers with prescription privileges : pharmaceutical companies
  • OHSU administrators : companies, consultants or other professionals hired or directed by the administrator, or from whom OHSU purchases goods/services
  • Scientists : manufacturers of scientific equipment or reagents

All gifts from the same organization count toward the annual limit, even if given by different persons within that organization.


Proposed Changes in OHSU Policy Based upon National Guidance

Gifts and conflicts of interest (COI) are a growing concern for academic health centers nationally as universities assume more complex roles and expanded relationships with industry. Sound institutional policies are critical to assuring that those interactions and collaborations remain principled and are conducted within a rigorous, transparent and credible framework. Moreover, they are critical to achieving and retaining public trust.

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 task force spent the last year surveying and evaluating OHSU gift and COI policies as compared to guidelines from various national organizations and other academic health and science universities. The task force recommended proposed policies to the OHSU Integrity Office and is soliciting input from affected units throughout OHSU.

A key provision of the draft policy is 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 below). This is a reasonable ethical standard and one that will serve OHSU's reputation well.

The Integrity Office is meeting with schools, departments and units to discuss the draft policy and how best to implement the goal of a zero limit on gifts. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Gary Chiodo, Chief Integrity Officer, or Dr. Kara Manning Drolet, Manager for Research and Institutional Integrity, or call 503-494-8849.