TravCon Speakers are expected to disclose their financial and nonfinancial relationships before the start of their course, even if they have no relevant financial or nonfinancial relationships. Speakers should alert TravCon if there are any changes in their financial and nonfinancial relationships that occur after their initial disclosure to TravCon but prior to the presentation. Presenters who fail to give disclosure information to Providers are not eligible to present.
Financial relationships are those relationships in which the individual benefits by receiving a salary, royalty, intellectual property rights, gift, speaking fee, consulting fee, honorarium, ownership interest (e.g., stocks, stock options, or other ownership interest, excluding diversified mutual funds), or other financial benefit with a company or commercial entity that sells services or products to or for patients. Financial relationships can also include "contracted research," in which the institution gets the grant and manages the funds, and the individual is the principal or named investigator on the grant.
Nonfinancial relationships are those relationships—including personal, professional, political, institutional, religious, or other—that might bias an individual. TravCon speakers must disclose all nonfinancial relationships related to course content. TravCon will determine—through a guided discussion with the planners and instructional personnel—whether anything they disclose cannot be resolved through disclosure to the attendees. Nonfinancial relationships must be disclosed during promotional efforts about the course and before the beginning of the course. If there are no nonfinancial relationships, this must also be disclosed.
Examples of relevant non-financial relationships that planners and instructional personnel should disclose:
• Personal—the individual has a personal friendship with someone in the company whose products the presenter is discussing; the individual has a family member or friend with a disorder that the presenter is covering in the course
• Professional—the presenter is a member of an association or group, and he or she is talking about that group's services in the presentation; the presenter has a professional bias about a way to deliver a particular service
• Political—the presenter has a political bias about a topic (e.g., health care reform), and his or her bias is toward supporting a particular party's position on this issue
• Institutional—the presenter is affiliated with an institution or organization (e.g., serves on a committee or board of that organization); the presenter is a member of that organization and/or gives money to its causes
• Religious—a bias based on religious tenets (e.g., the presenter has a bias toward service delivery at the end of life based on his or her religious beliefs).
All of us have biases. In the spirit of being open and transparent, if a presenter has a bias that pertains to the information presented in the course, it should be disclosed. When learners have this information about the presenter, they better understand the presenter's perspective on the information being presented.
Failure to disclose disqualifies someone from being considered as a planner or presenter. Once someone discloses, the steps to qualify or disqualify the person rests with the TravCon planning committee. Disqualification might depend on the nature of the course content, the relationship that the planners and instructional personnel have with the Provider organization, and the relationships they disclose on their forms. Each situation is different. For example, a Provider might disqualify someone if they have a strong relationship with a competitor.
TravCon provides a sample disclosure slide for those without relevant relationships as part of the presentation template. TravCon planning team members can assist with authoring any specific disclosures that include relevant relationships.
*A commercial interest is any entity that produces, markets, sells/resells, or distributes goods or services consumed by or used on patients or goods or services used or consumed by healthcare providers in the course of their professional practice.
** Relevant relationships are financial relationships with a commercial interest if the products or services of the commercial interest are related to the content of the educational activity. Relevant relationships include but are not limited to owners, employees, or individuals who have the potential for financial gain due to the nature of their relationship to commercial interests. Relationships with any commercial interest by the presenter’s spouse/partner may also be relevant relationships and should be disclosed.
Presenters employed as clinicians with an agency, hospital, facility, clinic, or other employer of healthcare clinicians who provide direct patient care are NOT considered to have a relevant relationship with a commercial interest. A clinician so employed in direct patient care may present on any relevant topic as long as they do not promote or market on behalf of their agency, hospital, facility, or clinic.