In the past, our pharma reps paid for and attended our Journal Club meetings, which are held at a restaurant in downtown Palo Alto. Since these are off-site, can this practice continue?

A. No, the practice cannot continue. This is because the Journal Club is a Stanford-sponsored event and so must abide by the Standards for Commercial Support of the Accrediting Council on Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). Section IV of the policy explains how make industry support for educational events compliant with these Standards. For instance, commercial support must be obtained as an unrestricted educational grant to the division or department. The past practice of having pharma reps pay directly for these events is no longer allowable. Furthermore, unless it is a public event, and the industry rep comes as a member of the public, they are no longer allowed to attend.  more