In a rare move, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General on Nov. 16 issued a Special Fraud Alert warning of inherent fraud and abuse risks “associated with the offer, payment, solicitation, or receipt of remuneration relating to speaker programs.” It brings to bear for chief compliance officers and chief risk officers in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries critical questions about whether paid speaker programs are worth the risk.
In its Special Fraud Alert—which is the first issued since 2014—the HHS-OIG defined “speaker programs” as “company-sponsored events at which a physician or other health care professional makes a speech or presentation to other [health care providers] about a drug or device product or a disease state on behalf of the company.” The company sponsoring the speech generally pays the speaker an honorarium and often pays remuneration—for example, free meals—to the attendees.
