CONFERENCE FACULTY AGREEMENT

 

 This conference does not offer honorarium to faculty. 

EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENT INFORMATION

In general, travel expenses incurred by faculty for their participation as a speaker/panelist at Binaytara Foundation conferences are reimbursable. However, expenses incurred by faculty for accompanying family members are not reimbursable. Also, certain meals and travel expenses are not reimbursable. Please find below the list of items we reimburse and those we do not reimburse faculty for their participation.

Airfare - Reimbursable expenses

• Coach class round-trip from/to domestic airports. 

Airfare - Non-reimbursable expenses

• Business/first/premium class fare,
• Any upgrades, 
• Luggage check-in fees
• International fare

Ground transportation - Reimbursable expenses

• Rideshare (Uber/Lyft),
• Hotel shuttles,
• Mileage if driving personal vehicle,
• Parking at the airport/hotel, and
• Public transportation (train/tram).
• We may occasionally reimburse taxi fare but we recommend Uber/Lyft when available.
• If there is a shuttle service provided by the hotel to/from the airport (free or paid) ground transportation to/from the hotel is not reimbursable.

Ground transportation - Non-reimbursable expenses

• Rental car 
• Ride for family members or guests of faculty
• Gas (please request mileage reimbursement if using pesonal vehicle)
• Any other form of transportation not listed on "reimbursed" list
• Ground transportation to/from  the venue if it offers free or paid shuttle service to the  airport. 

Meal - Reimbursable expenses:

Upto $100 per day for upto 2 days in meal expenses are reimbursable when meals are NOT offered to faculty on-site.

If the meal is offered on-site (breakfast, lunch, dinner) - reimbursement is not provided for those meals unless faculty's travel schedule does not allow them to be on-site during the meal hours. 

 
Meal - Non-reimbursable expenses

• Meal expense is not reimbursable for meals for family members, guests, other conference attendees, etc. 
• Please submit only the amounts for your meal.
• No reimbursement for alcohol
• No reimbursement without an itemized receipt. Credit card in lieu of an itemized receipt is not accepted.
• Meal expenses when the meal was provided to faculty on-site is not reimbursable. For example: if there is a faculty dinner on a certain date and faculty chooses to dine elsewhere, expenses for dinner on that date is not reimbursed unless faculy's travel schedule doesn't allow them to attend the faculty dinner. Similarly, if the meal is provided on-site during the conference, those expenses are not reimbursable.

Lodging - pre-paid by Binaytara Foundation:

Binaytara Foundation arranges and pays for upto two nights of lodging for its conference faculty who live 30 miles or further from the conference venue. Lodging is provided for the night before your talk/session, and the night of your talk/session at the contracted hotel. The lodging costs as well as asscoiated mandatory taxes and fees are prepaid by the conference.

 
Lodging - Non-reimbursable expenses

• Lodging for more than two nights
• Lodging for non-faculty, including faculty's family members or accompanying guests
• Off-site lodging
• Suite upgrades
• Pet fee, extra beds, additional amenities
• Spa, gift shop, personal expenses
• Room service for accompanying guests
• Wifi/gratuity not included in the room option provided by the conference

 Travel arrangements for out-of-town faculty:

Hotel & Lodging: The Binaytara Foundation staff will book hotel nights for faculty at the contracted hotel (in most cases this will be the venue where the CME activity takes place) for up to two nights under the group booking. If a faculty needs more than two nights of stay, our staff will be happy to book the additional nights for the faculty, however, the payment method for this booking will default to self-pay and faculty will be reimbursed for room & taxes for the two nights covered by this agreement. Faculty shall provide hotel with their credit cards for any incidentals.

Hotel booking cutoff and changes to reservations: Most hotels have restrictions and penalties for changes/modifications after the group booking cut-off dates. We request that faculties inform us about any changes in their hotel requirements as early as possible to avoid extra charges.

Airfare & flights arrangements:

Faculty can purchase their own flights and receive a reimbursement for the flight expenses or request the Binaytara Foundation staff to purchase their flight. The flight purchase requests must be received at least 6-weeks in advance for our staff to be able to make flight arrangements.

The Binaytara Foundation is a Delta Airlines corporate account member. If you are flying Delta, and purchasing your own flights, please enter US0119211 in "My company is a Skybonus Member" section while booking your flights.

If you are flying Alaska Airlines, please allow our staff to book your flights.

Unable to travel/cancellations or changes to flights: In the event the Binaytara Foundation purchases flights for conference the faculty and the faculty is unable to attend the conference in-person or needs to modify the flights, most airlines issue the ticket refunds as credit to the traveler. In these situations, the Binaytara Foundation requests that faculty members who are unable to attend the conference in-person after the flights were purchased and paid for by the Binaytara Foundation reimburse the flight costs to the Binaytara foundation.

In order to expedite the honorarium & expense disbursement process, we are switching to a direct deposit system. If your preference is to receive a payment by check, please note that the checks are cut once a month and sent via USPS first-class mail. It can take 45 days after you submit your reimbursement request to process your honorarium/reimbursement payment via check. Direct deposits are processed bi-weekly.

Disclaimers about Physician Payments Sunshine Act (PPSA) or the section 6002 of the Affordable Care Act of 2010

While payments to a speaker/faculty of a CME accredited activity are generally exempt from reporting under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (PPSA) or the section 6002 of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, certain payments and reimbursements to any faculty who is a healthcare provider may be subject to reporting pursuant to any current rules & regulations such as the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (PPSA) or the section 6002 of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. For details about the PPSA and other reporting requirements, the employee should review the latest information on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website - http://cms.gov.

The ACCME Standards for integrity and independence of accredited continuing education activity:

Many healthcare professionals have financial relationships with ineligible companies. These relationships must not be allowed to influence accredited continuing education.

The ACCME requires accredited providers to identify relevant financial relationships between individuals in control of educational content and ineligible companies and manage these to ensure they do not introduce commercial bias into the education. Financial relationships of any dollar amount are defined as relevant if the educational content is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company. Accredited providers must take the following steps when developing accredited continuing education:

Collect information from all planners, faculty, and others in control of educational content about all their financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. There is no minimum financial threshold; individuals must disclose all financial relationships, regardless of the amount, with ineligible companies.

Individuals must disclose regardless of their view of the relevance of the relationship to the education. Disclosure information must include:

1. The name of the ineligible company with which the person has a financial relationship.
2. The nature of the financial relationship. Examples of financial relationships include employee, researcher, consultant, advisor, speaker, independent contractor (including contracted research), royalties or patent beneficiary, executive role, and ownership interest. Individual stocks and stock options should be disclosed; diversified mutual funds do not need to be disclosed. Research funding from ineligible companies should be disclosed by the principal or named investigator even if that individual’s institution receives the research grant and manages the funds.

The Binaytara Foundation requires all faculty and planners of its continuing education activities to disclose all their financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. This information is collected via a webform located on our education academy (https://education.binayfoundation.org). We request each faculty to create an account on the Binaytara Foundation education academy as soon you receive the faculty invitation and complete the required disclosures.

We appreciate your time and efforts in helping us to maintain the integrity and independence of our continuing education activities.