ASHA, AAA, and ADA, all have code of ethics that include sections that discourage, or prohibit, depending upon how one reads them participation in activities that constitute a conflict of interest. Most third party payers have items in their contracts prohibiting kickbacks, bribes, or other similar inducements.
Medicare has career limiting penalties for violations.
Free trips, marketing allowances, advertizing placement and mailing services, business services, and other "free" stuff offered by some of the companies selling you hearing aids most likely fall into this prohibited category. If you are caught, the price you may pay for the "free" stuff will be very high for you. They will be onto the next sale.
When a buying group is taking you and your spouse to a resort destination in Mexico for a long winter weekend as a way of influencing your choice of supplier I think it is an obvious violation.
Imagine sitting on a hot seat in an ethics hearing and explaining you started buying from company X after your third "free" resort trip to an examiner! Would it feel good explaining this to a patient? Was it Florida, Mexico, or Las Vegas, that made your decision?
It is important to remember none of these companies are majority owned or run by Audiologists. None of them are governed by, or probably care much about, your Professional Code of Ethics. You are the one who is in violation, not them. If you get caught you will suffer, not them.
At a recent conference I was talking to a sales person from a company with a name I am sure you would recognize. He openly wondered why any Audiologist would ever accept what he was offering; but he explained it wasn't his problem. He sort of laughed it off; he had a job to do.
The key point is the difference between illegal and unethical. It is not illegal for them to make offers that it is unethical for you to accept. They are not the ones with your code of Professional Ethics. It is their job to make the sale; it is not their job to monitor your professional activities or standing.
Many of these tactics are being transferred from other groups. HIS and Dispensers have different codes of ethics than you as an Audiologist have. What might be appropriate for them may not be for you.
Rick
ASHA http://www.asha.org/docs/html/ET2003-00166.html
AAA: http://dev.aaa.susqtech.com/publications/documents/ethics/default.htm
ADA: http://www.audiologist.org/resources/documents/professionals/Code_of_Ethics.pdf
