Minimum Eligibility Requirements for Educational Grants

What can and cannot be funded? Educational grants may be given only for legitimate educational or scientific purposes. Grants must also comply with internal company policies and guidelines, which reflect the requirements and mandates of the Office of the Inspector General Guidance, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education Guidelines and the PhRMA Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals. Grants may be given for live educational activities, as well as educational publications and other types of enduring materials (e.g. interactive web, CD rom, audio tapes, etc.) provided that the activities or materials are advertised and open to a broad audience beyond members of the requesting institution. Fellowships or career development awards may be considered in limited circumstances. Grants cannot have any strings attached. Grants cannot be tied, in any way, to past, present, or future prescribing, purchasing, or recommending (including formulary recommendations) of any drug. Any documentation that is a part of or accompanies a grant request suggesting that the grant is tied, in any way, to past, present, or future prescribing, purchasing, or recommending of any drug will cause the grant request to be declined. Grants cannot be used to defray the grant requestor’s ordinary operating expenses (i.e. overhead expenses of activities that the requestor is already required to perform or customarily performs, including business meetings, or education that is a routine and required part of an educational activity, e.g. “grand rounds” with internal speakers etc.) Grants sought for the purchase of journal subscriptions, or similar items are generally not permitted as these items may be considered gifts or as part of operating expenses. Grants cannot involve payment for travel, housing expenses or time spent for doctors attending third party educational events, unless (i) the individuals involved are medical students, residents, fellows, and other healthcare professionals in training, (ii) the grant permits individuals selected from this group by the academic or training institution receiving the grant to attend major educational, scientific, or policy-making meetings of national, regional, or specialty medical associations, and (iii) such individuals are not attending the event for the purpose of making or attending presentations relating to Company products. Grants may not be used to fund payments for exhibit space, consulting or other services or goods provided to the company, company promotional activities or events, or any activity where any of the speakers are company employees. Grants may not cover the costs of entertainment or recreational events. Who can and cannot receive funding? Accredited continuing education providers, health-related academic societies and organizations, education vendors, teaching hospitals, educational institutions and other groups within the United States and Puerto Rico who have the potential to provide high quality education to advance healthcare are eligible to apply for an educational grant. In order to avoid any conflict of interest, the company does not support grants to any of its customers, including HMOs, PPOs, GPOs, etc., or any doctor or group of doctors in private practice. The only customers or potential customers that may be eligible for a grant are teaching hospitals and educational institutions whose mission includes public health education. Applicants who have received past grant funding, but have not provided a budget reconciliation for the past activity (if activity end date has passed, and was at least 90 days ago) are not eligible for funding. Budget guidelines   Grants must be limited to a reasonable estimate of the cost of the grant-funded activities. Grants may be issued to support only the costs associated with the development, delivery or evaluation of the educational activity, resources, or materials. Grants may not cover solely the cost of meals. It is acceptable for a portion of a grant to cover meals/refreshments only if the meals/refreshments are (i) modest and conducive to discussion among faculty and healthcare professional attendees, and (ii) allow primary focus to remain on the educational portion of the event funded by the grant. Recipients of funding are required to submit a completed activity reconciliation form within 90 days of the activity end date and return any unused funds. Written explanation will be required if actual attendance is less than 70% of the "Estimated Total Activity Participation" section of the grant application. Sanofi-aventis reserves the right to request return of funds if the actual activity deviates substantially from that described in the grant application. Application Requirements The information submitted by the grant requestor must include a reasonably detailed description of the activity or activity for which funding is requested, including educational need, general subject matter, learning objectives, instructional methods, evaluation plan, time, place, speaker qualifications and institutional affiliation(s), and anticipated invitees or audience. Application Deadlines Requests for grants are reviewed on an ongoing basis. To allow time for procesing, grant requests should be submitted at least 12 weeks prior to the activity for which funding is sought. Requests will not be accepted if submitted less than 8 weeks before the activity start date.