Clinicpass To Help Doctors Track Gifts From Drug Reps

An online app created by a Searcy company will help medical providers track gifts and other “transfers of value” from drug companies.

Founder Tracy Simpson created Clinicpass in response to the fact that pharmaceutical companies now are required to report to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services the payments they make to physicians and teaching hospitals. Those gifts include ownership and interest, as well as transfers of value such as free meals and travel.

The requirements are a result of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, a provision in the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare.

Because that information will be available for public consumption on CMS’ website, the American Medical Association recommends that medical providers keep their own records on the money spent on them and the purposes of the meetings.

Clinicpass, which currently has three employees, allows medical providers to have that same information at their disposal so they can cross-check for accuracy and be prepared to respond to questions from the public.

Information about exactly what was spent and what subject matter was discussed is compiled online – not by the clinic, which already is flooded with paperwork, but by the pharmaceutical representative. Failure to do so within 30 days of the event locks the representative out of the system.

Simpson, a former pharmaceutical representative, and business partner Padgett Mangan said the tool has been involved in a year-and-half beta testing with a Memphis-based medical management group. Four hundred pharmaceutical representatives currently are using the site. The newest platform is set to go live Nov. 15 and will include a mobile app as well as compatibility with Apple products.

Clinicpass also creates an appointment system for pharmaceutical representatives – traditionally an unorganized process where reps drop in and wait for a spare moment to talk to doctors. Clinicpass lets medical providers spell out when doctors are available to meet and lets representatives make appointments online. That will help clinics avoid a backlog of salesmen sitting in their clinic while patients are waiting to be treated, Simpson and Mangan said.

“This is the first time ever that they will have a real-live kind of Rolodex of who their reps are and how to really contact them,” Simpson said. “It’s the first time that they will really have something that they can go back and say who was here and when, on what date. They can pull the report on it. They’ve never had that before.”

The service is free to both medical providers and pharmaceutical representatives. It generates a profit through a partnership with Chef Shuttle, a food delivery service. Clinicpass will collect a marketing fee for services ordered through Chef Shuttle by pharmaceutical representatives for physicians.