MetricStream to manage pharma co's CIA program

BANGALORE, INDIA: Bangalore-based MetricStream, a provider of enterprise-wide Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) solutions, has announced that a pharmaceutical company has selected it to manage its Compliance, Ethics and Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) compliance program.

The MetricStream solution will enable the company to integrate and streamline end-to-end CIA compliance processes while facilitating accountability and transparency at every step, said a press release.

Under the terms of the five-year CIA agreement with the Office of Inspector General (OIG), the company is required to implement specific compliance measures with regard to risk reviews, policy implementation, training and education, disclosures, sales force monitoring, screening of ineligible persons, independent review, auditing and reporting.

These measures will help the company put controls in place to prevent off-label promotions, and ensure increased adherence to legally permissible sales and marketing practices.

Managing its Conflict of Interest program and complying with the CIA will also enable the pharmaceutical company to strengthen its commitment to ethical business conduct, enhance its ability to prevent fraud, and improve the standard of healthcare as per Medicare and Medicaid program mandates, the company said.

With the MetricStream solution, the pharmaceutical giant will be able to consolidate multiple processes including policy management, sales force risk monitoring, IRO audits, issue remediation, certifications and attestations, reporting and training on a single, centralized platform.

The solution provides rich capabilities such as workflow automation, regulatory alerts, graphical dashboards and a centralized information library to efficiently address CIA requirements, and proactively prevent incidents of noncompliance.

Using the MetricStream solution, the pharmaceutical company will be able to streamline and accelerate policy creation, management and review; efficiently map the policies to Federal healthcare and FDA requirements; and organize them in a centralized Web-based repository with easy access and search capabilities.