Drug makers trimmed CME grant-giving by about 10% in 2012, the fifth consecutive annual decrease, according to ACCME data. Commercial support totaled $662 million, down from $736 million.
The decline followed the prior year’s 11% drug industry cutback. Pharma has been slicing budgets for certified education for physicians since 2008.
But revenues from registration fees and the like surged nearly 15%, last year’s data show, pushing total income up by 5% to $2.3 billion. That bettered the 1% decrease in total income reported by ACCME-accredited providers the prior year.
In 2012, income from these non-pharma sources made up 58% of total income for CME providers, up from 53% in 2011. This income is defined by ACCME as participant registration fees and allocations from a CME provider’s parent organization or other internal departments.
Also helping to fill the void were non-physician’s participants. Nurses, PAs, residents, and other health professionals boosted CME attendance by 7%, vs. a 1% increase the year prior, outshining MDs and DOs, whose participation rose by 6%.
Data showed an evening of the CME funding picture. Commercial support accounted for 28% of total reported income, down from 33% the prior year and 50% in 2006.
Industry’s grant-giving tally last year is a bit lower as it excludes in-kind support, such as when a company loans a provider a device to use for teaching purposes. The ACCME decided in 2011 not to require them to quantify the dollar value of this kind of commercial support.
From the September 01, 2013 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
