Baker Tilly launches fair market value tool for life sciences
Baker Tilly US, a middle market accounting and consulting firm, has launched fmvNOW, a self-service, online fair market value rate tool which helps life sciences firms analyze the compensation rates paid to healthcare professionals.
“Medical device, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology companies continue to face increased risk both in the US and abroad associated with anti-kickback and anti-bribery regulations, as well as within the global supply chain,” said Mark Scallon, a principal in Baker Tilly’s life sciences consulting practice. “Among these regulations are requirements for companies to pay external healthcare professionals and other constituents in the global healthcare system fees deemed to be the fair market value for their services.”
Purdue Pharma’s culpability in driving the opioid crisis has shone a spotlight on the practice of pharma companies paying doctors for various services, such as consulting and speaking engagements.
Purdue’s sales teams aggressively pressed doctors to prescribe the highly addictive OxyContin painkiller, focusing on high-volume physicians, and sweetening the pot with paid speaking engagements and free trips to seminars. The pharma firm paid some doctors as much as $2,000 for brief talks.
In an $8-billion settlement last year, Purdue pleaded guilty to paying illegal kickbacks to doctors, among a raft of offenses.
The high-profile case will inevitably bring additional scrutiny to how pharma firms compensate doctors for consulting, promotional talks, and more.
Baker Tilly says its fmvNOW tool can help life sciences firms more quickly and easily determine compensation rates for doctors across the full spectrum of healthcare specialties, while also providing a documented methodology that is defensible to regulatory inquiries.
“We understand the need for life sciences companies to have a more simplified approach to assessing fair market value rates paid to healthcare professionals for speaking and consulting engagements,” said Samantha Sutherland, Baker Tilly senior manager and lead fmvNOW product developer. “Baker Tilly’s fmvNOW solution enables management to easily and quickly determine fair market value compensation rates so they can focus their efforts on areas of greater risk and complexity.”
The tool offers a 24/7 self-service portal which provides on-demand country-specific regulatory rates, as well as conversion of rates in local currencies to US dollars or Euros. It also has support features to connect clients to Baker Tilly’s fair market value experts.
Baker Tilly has more than 3,700 employees across 50 offices in the US, and delivers audit, tax, and consulting services to clients in a wide range of industries.
