By David Ross, Managing Director, Protiviti, Inc.
Because the base price of pharmaceutical products is established by regulation, the pharmaceutical industry has had to offer a number of creative incentives to customers in order to obtain market share and build a loyal customer base. Many manufacturers use rebate and chargeback programs - which often have complex contracts and provisions. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of pharmaceutical rebate and chargeback programs, and to describe recommended processes, steps and considerations for auditing these contracts. The author, David Ross, is the chair of Protiviti’s national Healthcare and Life Sciences industry taskforce.