Institutions may have rules regarding allowed gifts and quid pro quo.
The following are provided as examples24:
- Meals - Is a vendor allowed to bring lunch for the lab staff? Gifts? Entertainment? Or is the meal considered a part of a general professional conference that promotes education and not specific vendor products/services?
- Are off-site meal invitations prohibited when the individuals pay their own expenses?
- If a contract is already in play, does the contract state the vendor is allowed to bring in potential clients and/or meet with staff? If so, the vendor may be allowed to provide lunch as a part of the existing contract.
- Money to support departmental events (Lab Week) may be allowed, but no advantage to any vendor can be conveyed.
- Free webinars provided by vendors are usually allowed, as long as attendees are not being paid or receiving a gift from the vendor.
- Gifts - Some gifts may be allowed, but must be disclosed. Some examples include money for research, a microscope for a pathologist's work, and the donation of cutting-edge items/software to advance the laboratory. Promotional gifts with little or no value may be allowed; however, vendor gifts (pens, notepads promoting the vendor) should not be allowed in the public areas of the business (phlebotomy area, registration). Bias may be perceived by visitors.
- Patient education brochures may be shared with personnel or patients as appropriate, once de-identified.
- Textbooks - May be distributed provided the vendor is not identified on the book.
- Laboratory personnel are not usually allowed to practice "ghostwriting" which is writing presentations under someone else's name for the vendor's benefit.
- Vendor slides/images used in continuing education are not allowed to show any advertising, trade names, or product messages.
- Serving on a vendor's speakers' bureau may be a violation. This especially applies if the employee would be speaking regarding a specific vendor's product.
Bribes: Bribery, whenever federal acquisitions are involved, is a violation of Federal criminal law - involving fraud, conflict of interest, bribery, or gratuity violations - as found in Title 18 of the United States Code (section on Contractor Code of Ethics).
25 Always review state law, as well as your facility's policy.
24. University of North Carolina Health Care System. UNC School of Medicine: Policy on Vendor Relationships. 2011. https://www.med.unc.edu/fbo/wp-content/uploads/sites/827/2018/08/vendor-relations-faqs.pdf
