Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013
This Week's News
Grant program funds research on gender-based work/practice issues
AMA initiates grassroots campaign to save medical residency funding
CBO report shows cost to repeal SGR cut nearly in half; doctors call for action
Medicare pay cut of 2 percent set under budget sequester
CMS issues Sunshine Act final rule; physician data to be published in 2014
This Week's News
CMS issues Sunshine Act final rule; physician data to be published in 2014
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a long-anticipated final rule that requires manufacturers of drugs, biological and medical devices to publically report payments and other "transfers of value" with physicians and teaching hospitals.
Intended to bring greater transparency to the health care market, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act charges CMS with developing a website that publically reports data about payments that occur between manufacturers or group purchasing organizations and physicians.
"Physicians' relationships with the pharmaceutical industry should be transparent and focused on benefits to patients," AMA President Jeremy A. Lazarus, MD, said in a statement. "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."
Under the final rule, manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals and medical supplies covered by federally administered health care programs are required to report any payments and transfers of value they make to physicians and teaching hospitals. In addition, any ownership or investment interests physicians or their family members have in the manufacturers must be disclosed to CMS. The agency will post most of the information on a public website.
Data collecting will begin Aug. 1, and CMS will publish data collected from August through December on the new public website by Sept. 30, 2014. Manufacturers, group purchasing organizations, teaching hospitals and physicians will have an opportunity to review and correct reported information before it is made public, CMS said in a news release.
The AMA is reviewing the 287-page rule. Watch AMA Wire for updates about the new reporting process as the rule is implemented.
