Forum key takeaways:
There needs to be an extensive re-think in the way that we structure the planning of meetings. As meeting professionals, we need to embrace complexity in planning and delivery and create new processes to communicate meeting objectives, integrating each stakeholder into a new style project team focused on addressing the needs of meeting outcomes and process efficiency
Forum key takeaways:
The 2014 Healthcare Meetings Forum Asia focused on the evolving nature of medical meetings in Asia, highlighting the challenges posed by regulatory compliance, shifting funding models, and the need for enhanced patient care. Emphasis was placed on collaborative dialogue among stakeholders to foster ethical and effective scientific communication.
Please note the view in this report reflect the views and content available at the time. In some cases the conclusions have been realised or changed in the time since their creation.
As we are about to share in our forthcoming 3rd Compliance Workshop, from the beginning of the pandemic in February 2020 to the “end”, c. 2 years later, there were no changes in European meal caps, and yes, that does include the UK! However, since then, we have seen 7 EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) scorecard updates reflecting more than 12 different country increases.
To start off, if you were working with EU meals caps (including the UK) HERE you can find the latest EFPIA scorecard, as mentioned above, but NOTE: if the link stops working, it means that it has been updated, again! So please, in this instance, check the EFPIA website.
Failing that, you know that Healthcare Venues will post any updates on our page on LinkedIn and the Healthcare Hub community pages, You are welcome!
For our Healthcare Venues, here is our solution in this month’s HINT and TIP, however, for agencies, it might also answer some questions:
For hotels and venues, you MUST know what your national meal cap limit is – you are in the “host country”. This is typically included as part of our Venue healthcare Champion Training but if you are not part of our membership, click the EFPIA scorecard link above to find what national meal cap is. For non EU countries, please contact us.
Note: the rates shown are maximums! And even then, agencies should be considering the audience: can the level of hospitality be considered appropriate for a senior consultant, if so, it might not be considered appropriate for a nurse or newly qualified Doctor. And meeting stakeholders should consider whether the proportion of education in the agenda versus the level of hospitality is appropriate. Try the ‘red face’ test: would you be able to defend the choices made if the details of the event were made public?
Think about what menu packages you are sending along with your proposals, there is no point in sending dinner menu and drinks packages that exceed that limit, as selecting them would be uncompliant! “And no, we do not recommend that you should ‘create’ a room hire charge to enable you to reduce the menu price.”
Note: for venues who do typically charge a room hire for meeting and events, this would likely be acceptable, but note, some company policies may determine that room hire charges are included and spread across the number of attendees, thus making the per person cost exceed the meal cap.
Create healthcare meal packages that comply with your national meal cap limit, or even better, less, as many company policies apply the lowest or strictest rate.
We all know the costs of human resources, energy and ingredients have increased due to inflation, so it makes sense to sit down with your chefs to create cost effective and compliant menus and drinks packages. If as is typical you send all your menus, with your proposal including an attractive package at 70 euros, don’t be surprised when you are asked to charge 60 euros.
Be proactive with your clients. Demonstrate your knowledge and suggest that whilst we have healthcare packages that respect the national meal cap limit.
We can and have shared with you where to find the scorecard for meals and drinks however, the potential stricter company policies are not open source, so be sure to ask what meal cap they are applying to this meeting.
AND FINALLY…….A WORD OF WARNING FOR MEETING VENUES. There is a current trend of employing DJs in hotel lobbies and bars, which might be fun for leisure guests and the local community seeking some extra atmosphere, but if your clients are looking to book HCP dinners in your restaurant, anything more than background music i.e., DJs, live music or anything else that might be considered entertainment, and is likely to be considered inappropriate.
Good luck and if you have any questions, please do let us know. For our next Hint and Tip, how about we tackle Star Ratings?
Click here to read more about the work of Healthcare Venues.
At Healthcare Venues we are regularly asked by hotels and venues this question: “How can we receive and convert more enquiries from the Healthcare sector?”
My first response is that if Healthcare is a target market, they have come to the right people, as we look to help in 3 ways. 1) Provide a sector specific listing on the Healthcare-Venues.com website with 2) an independent Compliance Index, and 3) deliver our Venue Healthcare Champion training course. Our post training Hints and Tips form just one element of skills training that takes learners, via a series of memorable methodologies, on a journey to become a venue’s Compliance Expert.
So, welcome to the first in a monthly series of Hints and Tips where we tackle some of the more challenging areas around the organisation of code appropriate Healthcare Meetings and Events.
The hints and tips are aimed at hotels and venues however, if you are a meeting planner and are tired of explaining what TOV is and why it is important, you might just want to share this with the venues you work with so they learn something new. Not for those venues, it has to be said, that are on our platform and have already been trained to understand and action!.
So why are we covering TOV first? Well, it’s because we are hearing from more and more corporate meeting specialists and agencies, that if a venue does not understand the importance of TOV, and support its reporting, they will be more likely to NOT want to work with the venue again!
I have split this hint and tip into the ‘Background’, so readers who don’t know the history can understand why the accurate reporting of TOV is critical and non-negotiable. The HINT, if you like, and then the TIP.
Let’s start with some history. In mid-2007, Australia was one of the first countries to require the reporting of details from every industry-sponsored event ₁
The US followed in 2010, and passed The Physician Payments Sunshine Act (now known as open-payments) to increase transparency of financial relationships between healthcare providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers ₂.This was the significant catalyst which started a global impact. I’ll focus on the European requirements in this article.
It was on 2nd July 2013, that EFPIA (the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) announced the release of its disclosure code for transfers of value ₃ to healthcare professionals and organisations. It required its members to disclose transfers of value to HCP’s and HCO’s as of 2016 for all transfers made in 2015 either on their websites or, where available, on a national platform for disclosure.
Before this, companies were displaying the total amount being spent on meetings for doctors on their corporate webpages. Try a web search, you can access TOV reporting documents that are open source and open to scrutiny.
In 2016, healthcare companies in the European region now had to disclose payments made, directly or indirectly, to healthcare professionals (HCPs) for every event. relating to the following areas:
This action was aimed at satisfying the increasing need to demonstrate transparency in the relationships between the healthcare industry and healthcare professionals.
We are now in its 7th year, and we know the data being captured is far more extensive than the EFPIA template and, in most cases, it is the project planner that is responsible for collating all this data in a timely manner and it MUST be accurate. You can expect that for a meeting for 100 healthcare professionals, there is in excess of 40,000 pieces of data requiring validation and capture.
This all sounds reasonable and logical, and for us, as patients, it makes for very interesting and reassuring reading. However, the practicalities of delivering such large amounts of data are, like compliance, never straight forward and are time consuming. So, how can you, the venue, help?
We are all “BUSY” and Meeting planners are more so, and they tell us that if a hotel or venue does not understand TOV, and needs education on what it is, then they are far less likely to want to work with them. This is one area that is non- negotiable for the planner, and a significant part of their role.
So, for ANY hotel or meeting venue, not just those on the Healthcare Venues platform, that wishes to convert more business, you must understand the following:
Note: Meeting organisers are not trying a tactic to unpick the profit margin within a DDR, but as you can now see, it is to make sure they can complete their report accurately.
It really is that simple, and it’s the same for any client you are trying to win or retain. Understand your client, their pain points, and if you can make their lives easier, they are far more likely to be a ‘returning customer’, plus they will also spread the word of your excellence to colleagues and their broader network.
1 journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000128
2 openpaymentsdata.cms.gov
3 www.efpia.eu/relationships-code/disclosure-of-payments
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As we met in Finland little did we know that a few thousand miles away a virus was about to change the world.
In our own modest way we were considering the planning of meetings and events for the Healthcare sector and what might be “better”.
We concluded that …
“There needs to be an extensive re-think in the way that we structure the planning of meetings. As meeting professionals, we need to embrace complexity in planning and delivery to create new processes that communicate meeting objectives, integrating each stakeholder into a new style project team, focused on addressing the needs of meeting outcomes. We have no time to waste to start to match the educational needs of the healthcare professional community.
Read more by downloading the report or contact us to chat about the topics or how to get involved in future forums.
Next forum: the Hague 2023, click here.
At 3Sixty, Betsy was more than an expert in meetings strategy—she was a beacon of kindness, professionalism, and fierce pride in the work she did. Her expertise in the healthcare sector and deep understanding of the US meetings matrix helped shape our success on an international scale. Betsy had over 30 years of experience in meeting and trade show management, hotel sales, and procurement, but her passion for advancing the industry went beyond any résumé. She was a pioneer, developing one of the earliest Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) programs for the world’s largest biotech company and creating venue compliance processes for the PhRMA guidelines.
Betsy was never content to simply follow; she led by example. She set up her own consultancy in 2007, sharing her wealth of knowledge through countless articles, presentations, and educational programs. Her influence reached across America, Europe, and Asia, where she championed the importance of meetings and, most importantly, the people behind them. Her unwavering enthusiasm and commitment touched everyone who had the privilege of working with her. Betsy brought not just expertise, but also warmth and generosity, creating lasting bonds with colleagues and clients alike.
This page will remain as a tribute to Betsy’s incredible character and her tireless work to advance the meetings industry. She may no longer be with us in person, but her spirit, her passion, and her extraordinary contributions will continue to inspire us all. Rest in peace, Betsy.
Mark’s career has seen him master a number of operational roles to become Director of global event management company World Events (now Ashfield Meetings), then Head of Global Events for F. Hoffmann La Roche where he established global compliance guidelines and the integration of 35 markets into a centralised solution.
More recently he worked with Grass Roots to create an aligned international multi-market offer for meetings and events, before becoming Director of 3Sixty Event Consulting and founding our independent venue compliance index healthcare-venues.com. When he’s not deeply involved in developing our own strategic and collaborative offering he is also an expert advisor to Plenum, a peer-to-peer networking group, through which he passionately contributes to the global dialogue around Healthcare meetings and events.
His consultancy experience has given him unrivalled industry insight into strategic meetings management, future trends and HCP engagement.
Simon is a specialist in Healthcare Sector meetings, with a finely tuned understanding of successful events across the product lifecycle. He has supported numerous top-level Healthcare and Life Science companies in developing clinical programmes, coordinating launch activities, and delivering engagement-driven meetings for internal and external audiences.
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