Medical societies express concern as CMS publishes first wave of payment data

CMS has come under criticism today for the release of its first batch of Open Payments System data. According to some medical societies, the data are inaccurate and incomplete, and the American Medical Association has asked the media to consider the data carefully before passing judgment about physicians’ and teaching hospitals’ relationships with industry.

“[The] AMA has strongly urged the federal government to adopt sensible measures to ensure that the information released is accurate,” AMA’s leadership wrote in a press release. “Unfortunately, the CMS’ Open Payments program has, to-date, been plagued by significant shortcomings that call into question the accuracy of information that will be published [today], including an inadequate opportunity for physicians to review their individual data and technical problems with the system’s website.”

The system in place for physicians and teaching hospitals to report inaccuracies was shut down several times since August 2 due to data errors and system maintenance, and about one-third of the data is estimated to be withheld due to known errors or those under investigation. The deadline for error submission was extended to allow a full 45 days for submission. Physicians and teaching hospitals may still submit error reports, but the data will remain visible to the public. The Open Payments System was legislated through the Sunshine Act, a part of the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare.”

While CMS announced updates are forthcoming, in an earlier statement, CMS reported that erroneous data to undergo review would not be added until the next reporting cycle in June 2015. At that time, CMS said data will be available for an entire year of reporting.

“This initial public posting of data is only the first phase of the Open Payments program. In coming weeks, we will be adding additional data and tools that will give consumers, researchers and others a detailed look into this industry and its financial arrangements,” CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner said in a press release today.

Other concerns have been raised regarding public perception of the data and relationships with manufacturers and other industry organizations.

“[The] AMA strongly opposes inappropriate, unethical interactions between physicians and industry. However, relationships with industry also drive innovation in patient care, contribute to the economic well-being of communities, and provide significant resources for professional medical education, to the ultimate benefit of patients,” an AMA statement said. “An urgent challenge for both physicians and industry is to preserve strong, productive collaborations for the benefit of patients and the public and at the same time take clear, effective action to avoid conflicts of interest and relationships that would undermine trust.”

Linda J. Burns

Linda J. Burns, MD, president of the American Society of Hematology issued a statement expressing similar concerns.

“The release of these incomplete data without appropriate disclosures and/or explanatory statements as to their limitations and potential misinterpretations may result in inaccurate and misleading information about physicians and teaching hospitals,” Burns wrote. “While transparency about industry-physician relationships is critically important, industry support of medicine should not be cast in a negative light. Research and development sponsored by the biomedical/pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in biomedical research and has paved the way for significant scientific discoveries that have benefitted millions of patients.”

Shantanu Agrawal, MD, deputy administrator and director of the Center for Program Integrity at CMS said the data are useful for analysis.

“Open Payments does not identify which financial relationships are beneficial and which could cause conflicts of interest. It simply makes the data available to the public. So while these data could discourage payments and others transfers of value that might have an inappropriate influence on research, education, and clinical decision-making, they could also help identify relationships that lead to the development of beneficial new technologies.”

CMS said it encourages patients to discuss financial relationships with their physicians.

“Financial ties among medical manufacturers’ payments and health care providers do not necessarily signal wrongdoing,” CMS wrote in their press release. “Given the importance of discouraging inappropriate relationships without harming beneficial ones, CMS is working closely with stakeholders to better understand the current scope of the interactions among physicians, teaching hospitals and industry manufacturers.”

According to CMS, the data contain 4.4 million payments valued at nearly $3.5 billion to 546,000 physicians and nearly 1,360 teaching hospitals.

“Using this new data, it is now possible to conduct a wide range of analyses of payments made by drug and device manufacturers,” Agrawal said in the release.