Before you estimate the FMV compensation for a health care professional (HCP) who provides speaking, advisory or consulting services, its highly advisable to first rank each individual HCP into a particular tier. Not every HCP is going to qualify as a key opinion leader. It depends on the company’s specific needs and qualifications of the HCP how a company selects and hires. HVG recommends you develop a formal selection process with qualifications and criteria on how you select and hire an HCP.
According to the Code on Interactions with Health Care Professionals by PhRMA:
- “A company’s decisions regarding the selection or retention of health care professionals as speakers should be made based on defined criteria such as general medical expertise and reputation, knowledge and experience regarding a particular therapeutic area, and communications skills.”
According to the AdvaMed Code of Ethics On Interactions with U.S. Health Care Professionals, a company looking to hire an HCP should vet the HCP based on his/her qualifications, which may include the HCPs
- “..specialty, years of experience, location, practice setting, clinical research experience, podium presence, speaking and publication experience, or experience with, usage of, or familiarity with a specific Medical Technology, among other qualifications.”
HVG has developed an HCP Experience Matrix which can help life science companies rank an HCP into 1 of 4 tiers or levels (see table below). Once an HCP has been evaluated and vetted, the appraiser can formulate a more appropriate and supportable FMV compensation.
