Educational Grants at Fresenius Medical Care
Supporting medical and scientific education of healthcare professionals
Fresenius Medical Care is highly committed to supporting the advancement of genuine medical/scientific education of healthcare professionals in relevant therapeutic areas, and therefore contributes to the improvement of healthcare standards and enhanced patient care.
In line with the revised Code issued by the European industry association for medical technology (MedTech Europe / MTE), as of 1 January 2017, Fresenius Medical Care terminated the direct financial support of individual healthcare professionals for attending educational medical/scientific Third-Party Events (TPEs). This “direct sponsorship” includes registration fee, travel and accommodation costs as well as administration costs. In response to the requirements outlined in the MTE Code, over the course of 2017, Fresenius Medical Care has created an operational framework and successfully implemented the associated process for educational grants (“indirect sponsorship”).
What are educational grants?
Educational grant means the provision of financial support by Fresenius Medical Care on a restricted basis to professionally-constituted organizations with the experience and expertise to initiate and conduct educational medical/scientific activities. The usage by the educational grant recipient is restricted solely to the support and the advancement of genuine medical/scientific education of healthcare professionals, patients and/or the public. The events and activities must focus on clinical, scientific and/or healthcare topics relevant to therapeutic areas in which Fresenius Medical Care is interested and/or involved.
Specifically, Fresenius Medical Care provides educational grants to support TPEs, restricted to financial support of healthcare professional participation. The educational grant recipient is responsible for managing the financial support provided – the Fresenius Medical Care support of TPEs through educational grants must not in any way influence the TPE program content, TPE faculty selection, healthcare professional participant selection, or otherwise any part of the TPE planning.
Fresenius Medical Care also provides Educational Grants on a restricted basis to Healthcare Organizations for Public Awareness Campaigns (PACs). PACs are for the legitimate purpose of providing information, promoting awareness and/or educating patients, carers or the general public about relevant healthcare topics, medical conditions or diseases in therapeutic areas in which Fresenius Medical Care is interested and/or involved.
What is the application process for educational grants?
Qualifying organizations, as detailed above, may request an application form from Fresenius Medical Care at the following email address: edu-grants(at)fmc-ag.com.
The application form for TPEs e.g. consists of 5 pages including mostly self-explanatory fields, of which some are completed automatically when other fields are filled in by the requestor.
For a first impression and explanations on how to fill in the form/ where to fill in what kind of information, the document below was created.
Once applications are completed and submitted to Fresenius Medical Care, our Educational Grants Coordination Office will carefully review and, where all requirements are met, submit to Fresenius Medical Care’s Educational Grants Committee for final review and decision, i.e. approval or rejection.
Please note: the deadline for submitting a fully completed application form is 90 days prior to the start of the TPE/PAC.
Fresenius Medical Care reserves the right to reject any application at its own discretion, as well as approve in full or only in part. Where granted, Fresenius Medical Care and the requesting organization shall sign a Grant Agreement, specifying the terms of the educational grant. The recipient of the educational grant must use the educational grant for the restricted scope it was agreed on and provide Fresenius Medical Care with a confirmation and evidence of the rightful use.
Under the new educational grants process, how may HCPs receive support for participation at a TPE?
HCPs who seek support to participate in a TPE should check the websites of medical societies, medical associations, institutions of higher learning, professional conference organizers, or otherwise professionally-constituted organization conducting educational medical/scientific activities to see whether such organizations offer support. If support is provided, HCPs can apply at the respective organization, which is entirely responsible for the HCP selection and subsequent arrangements for participation.
Fresenius Medical Care proudly supports advancements in medical technology, as well as ongoing education for healthcare professionals and is therefore eager to continue to engage responsibly with HCPs, hospitals and clinician organizations.