DURHAM, NC–(Marketwired – October 10, 2016) – Both chairing an advisory board and providing clinical consulting stand out as the two events that drug companies most commonly pay KOLs for their travel time, according to a recent analysis completed by fair-market value consultant Cutting Edge Information.
The majority of pharmaceutical companies (79%) compensate KOLs for travel time when chairing an advisory board. However, less than 50% of survey respondents reported paying their thought leaders for time travel associated with other activities, specifically promotional speeches.
According to the analysis, Travel Policy Compliance for Engaging with HCPs, 41% of surveyed companies pay KOLs for time spent traveling across all six examined activity types:
- Clinical consulting
- Commercial consulting
- Promotional speeches
- Scientific speeches
- Chairing advisory boards
- Participating in advisory boards.
The other 59% consists of the drug manufacturers that do not pay for travel time associated with certain activities and/or that do not attend some of these events at all. Even though not all surveyed companies pay travel associated with all major activities, 100% do pay KOLs for travel time associated with at least one major activity.
“It is an acceptable industry practice to compensate KOLs for their travel time for all of the major activities examined in this analysis,” said Jacob Presson, senior consultant at Cutting Edge Information. “Some KOL travel practices tie directly to the level of satisfaction that those who manage travel feel about their overall compliance efforts. Standardizing policies so that travel is managed consistently heavily impacts compliance.”
Cutting Edge Information published its pharmaceutical travel policy findings in Travel Policy Compliance for Engaging with HCPs, available at https://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/research/other/travel-policy-compliance-engaging-hcps/, captures key aspects of HCP travel policies about rates paid for travel time, hotel accommodations, airfare allowances and acclimation time. Pharmaceutical compliance, medical, clinical and commercial executives use these data and insights to inform their decision-making around thought leader travel policies. Some of the study’s insights include:
- Industry policies for compensating healthcare providers (HCPs) during travel time.
- Level of HCP travel support (e.g. booking assistance).
- Practices surrounding preferential hotel arrangements.
- Differentiation between HCP tiers for air travel accommodations.
- Class of airline travel for domestic and international journeys by tier.
- Policies regarding which activities warrant travel time reimbursement.
- Guidelines on acclimation time after international travel.
For more information on Cutting Edge Information’s fair-market value consulting services, visit https://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/physician-fair-market-value/ .
Contact:
Elio Evangelista
Senior Director of Commercialization
Cutting Edge Information
[email protected]
919-403-6583
