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An Act To Prohibit Certain Gifts to Health Care Practitioners
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  32 MRSA §13759  is enacted to read:
§ 13759. Gifts to practitioners prohibited
 
1.  Gift defined.     For the purposes of this section, "gift" means anything of value, including forgiveness of an obligation or debt, given to a practitioner without that practitioner providing equal or greater consideration to the giver. "Gift" does not include:
 
A.  Professional samples of a drug provided to a practitioner for free distribution to patients;
 
B.  Items with a total combined retail value, in any calendar year, of not more than $50;
 
C.  A payment to the sponsor of a medical conference, professional meeting or other educational program, as long as that payment is not made directly to a practitioner and is used solely for bona fide educational purposes;
 
D.  Reasonable honoraria and payment of the reasonable expenses of a practitioner who serves on the faculty at a professional or educational conference or meeting;
 
E.  Compensation for the substantial professional or consulting services of a practitioner in connection with a genuine research project;
 
F.  Publications or educational materials; or
 
G.  Salaries or other benefits paid to employees.
 
2.  Gifts to practitioners prohibited.     A manufacturer or wholesaler, or an agent of a manufacturer or wholesaler, may not offer or give a gift to a practitioner. For purposes of this section, a medical device manufacturer that distributes drugs as an incidental part of its device business is not considered a manufacturer or wholesaler or an agent of a manufacturer or wholesaler.
 
SUMMARY
This bill amends the Maine Pharmacy Act to prohibit a person engaged in the manufacture of prescription drugs or a person who buys prescription drugs for resale and distribution to persons other than consumers from giving a gift to an individual who is licensed, registered or otherwise authorized in the appropriate jurisdiction to prescribe and administer drugs in the course of that individual's professional practice. "Gift" does not include samples of prescription drugs to be given to patients for free, items with a total value of less than $50 over a calendar year, payments to sponsors of educational programs, honoraria and payments of expenses incurred at an educational conference or meeting, compensation for research, publications or educational materials and salaries or other benefits paid to employees.