Is my congress affected?

• Yes, if manufacturers invite* healthcare professionals (doctors, IBODE/IDE, physiotherapists, manipulators, etc.) to your congress. 
• Yes, if they are signatories to the MedTech charter and/or members of Snitem. 
• Yes, if these manufacturers participate in your congress to present medical equipment and not a drug.

*Invitation means registration and/or transport & accommodation

What does this mean?

The MedTech Europe Code prohibits direct financing between manufacturers and healthcare professionals. A manufacturer can no longer directly pay for congress registration, train or plane tickets, or hotel nights for a healthcare professional to attend your congress.

How are healthcare professionals (doctors, IBODEs/IDEs, physiotherapists, manipulators, etc.) organized by manufacturers?

The MedTech Europe Code allows the indirect financing of a healthcare professional's participation in a congress by an industrial company, through donations called "Educational Grants" which will be paid to the learned society organizing the congress.

Apply for an Educational Grant

The learned society or congress organizer applies for an Educational Grant from an industrial company, which will only be used to finance the participation of healthcare professionals in the congress.

Inform participants and organize their care

The learned society collects information on the profile of healthcare professionals wishing to benefit from this type of coverage, through its registration questionnaire.

Example of criteria:

• Type of practice: liberal / Hospital
• Participation in previous congresses
• Submitting an abstract ...

The learned society notifies participants who have been selected, and informs them that they will be the subject of a hospitality agreement with a particular manufacturer.

The Société Savante organizes hotel and transport reservations, as well as registration for all participants who benefit from this form of payment.

Declaration to the Medical and Nursing Associations

Prior to the congress, the Société Savante will provide each manufacturer with a list of selected healthcare professionals, together with all the information required to declare them to the various professional associations. Each manufacturer is required to declare to the various professional associations (CNOM, etc.) the detailed list of healthcare professionals invited to take part in the donation.

The information will then be made public on the Ordre des Médecins website, click here. This is already the case for direct financing.

After the congress, the learned society sends each industrial company a complete list of the healthcare professionals covered by its donation, specifying the actual cost of each expense per participant (Hotel/Transport/Registration). It also indicates those who did not attend the congress.

To remember: what is essential in the MedTech Code is that the industrialist must in no way choose or influence the choice of healthcare professionals who will benefit from his donation and be paid for by the congress. The learned society must organize the process independently and objectively.

What conditions must I meet to set up indirect financing at my convention?

For your conference to receive donations under the MedTech Europe Code, it must submit its application to the Conference Vetting System and be approved. To find out more, click here.

The CVS evaluation criteria(find out more) and approval criteria for a congress are as follows: 

• A high-quality scientific program
• The seriousness and quality of a scientific program, developed by a committee of experts from the profession, is essential. 
• Choice of convention center and destination city.
  The convention center must not have a "leisure" image: convention centers are accepted, but resort hotels or cruise ships, for example, will not be admitted under any circumstances. As for the choice of city or country, the destination must not have a "leisure" image at the time the congress is held. For example, avoid a ski resort in February. The country of the congress must be consistent with the profile of the participants: a French congress cannot be held in Argentina, for example.
• Congress activities.
  Apart from the scientific program, the congress must not offer any activities other than coffee breaks or lunches at the congress venue, or a congress dinner. It is understood that only healthcare professionals may benefit from these activities (under no circumstances may spouses or children benefit from services offered by the congress).
  Registration fees may only cover authorized activities. For example, the congress may not offer accompanying persons' rates.
• Communication
  Communication should focus on the scientific value of the conference, not on the city tours available. 

Good to know: it's possible to pre-submit your congress well in advance, for example to validate the congress venue and city, which are generally known well before the scientific program. This allows you to engage in a commercial approach with your MedTech Code partners. 

How can I communicate on the subject with my industrial partners?

We'd like to share with you a few ideas for organizing the indirect funding of participant groups by industrial signatories to the MedTech Code.

Step 1: Identify the MedTech Code's industrial signatories among your partners, meet with them and explain how indirect financing works. 

To consult the list of MedTech Europe Code signatories, click here and the list of SNITEM members, click here .

Step 2: Send a request for a donation to the manufacturers concerned, specifying the following: quality of the healthcare professionals concerned by this financing (Doctor / IBODE / IDE / Physiotherapist etc...); number of healthcare professionals covered thanks to this donation; details of the estimated costs per person.

To view the template proposed by MedTech Europe, click here

Step 3: Sign the Grant Agreement with the industrialists to finalize the legal aspects.

To view the contract template proposed by MedTech Europe, click here .

Good to know: most healthcare manufacturers have used this model contract and have already translated it into French. In most cases, these contracts must be validated by their compliance department.

What's the timetable for implementation?

M - 12 

Meet with industrial signatories to the Medtech Code. Submit the congress to the CVS (Pre-clearance).

M -7

Request for donation sent to manufacturers. Contract signed.

M-6

Solicitation of healthcare professionals wishing to benefit from this service, and collection of the necessary information.

M-4 

Selection of beneficiary healthcare professionals and notification.

M-3

Lists of professionals who will be covered thanks to their donation are sent to each industrialist. Submission of the congress to the CVS (Regular Submission).

M-2

Manufacturers submit a list of professionals to the Order.

M -1.5

The Order's response. At present, the Order's response is advisory only, but a decree is in the process of being promulgated that would make the Order's decision valid.

M +6

Final lists of attendees and absentees, with details of costs per participant, are sent to each industrialist.