This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
CMS issues final rule on Physician Payment Sunshine Act
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
CMS recently announced in a press release its final rule on the National Physician Payment Transparency Program: Open Payments, also known as the Sunshine Act, aimed to increase transparency among physicians, drug and device manufacturers and health care providers.
As part of the Affordable Care Act, the rule calls for manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program to disclose payments made to doctors and teaching hospitals to CMS. According to the release, these manufacturers and group purchasing organizations must also report physician ownership and investments in these enterprises. This data will be publicly available on a CMS website by September 30, 2014, and entities required to report information under the rule will be able to review and correct reported data before it is released to the public. Collection of this information will begin August 1 of this year, according to the release.
Jeremy Lazarus
“You should know when your doctor has a financial relationship with the companies that manufacture or supply the medicines or medical devices you may need,” Peter Budetti, MD, CMS deputy administrator for Program Integrity, stated in the press release. “Disclosure of these relationships allows patients to have more informed discussions with their doctors.”
AMA President Jeremy Lazarus, MD, stated that the AMA will carefully review the new rule.
“Physicians’ relationships with the pharmaceutical industry should be transparent and focused on benefits to patients,” Lazarus stated in an AMA press release. “Our feedback during this rulemaking process was aimed at ensuring the new registry will provide a meaningful picture of physician-industry interactions and give physicians an easy way to correct any inaccuracies. As the rule is implemented, we will work to make sure physicians have up-to-date information about the new reporting process.”
Reference:
https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection
Perspective
Back to Top
L. Samuel Wann, MD, MACC, FESC
Dr. William Parmley, a former president of the American College of Cardiology and chief of cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco, pointed out at an ethics conference held at Heart House 15 years ago that conflicts of interest are inherent in nearly all human interactions and cannot be avoided. How we manage those conflicts of interest is the subject at hand. Physicians have a special obligation to patients to openly acknowledge relevant relationships with industry and other entities that might impact on the care they deliver. It is perfectly proper for physicians to contribute their expertise and be compensated for their efforts to develop new advances in medicine. We do not want to prevent caring, responsible physicians with special expertise from working with industry to develop products to help patients. Transparency is not the complete solution to conflicts of interest, but it is an essential beginning.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts