CMA urges Congress to exempt medical textbooks and journals from Sunshine Act The California Medical Association (CMA) has joined the American Medical Association (AMA) and 70 other medical associations in support of H.R. 5539, which would exempt medical textbooks and journals, as well as indirect payments that pharmaceutical and device manufacturers offer to CME providers, from Sunshine Act reporting requirements. In a joint letter the organizations said that “passage of this bill is urgently needed to remedy onerous and burdensome reporting obligations imposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that have already chilled the dissemination of medical textbooks, peer-reviewed ... November 5, 2014 General Physician Payment Sunshine Act 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMS launches Open Payments website The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today launched its Open Payments website, which allows consumers to see the financial relationships between drug and medical device manufacturers and physicians as reported under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. The data published online contains 4.4 million payments made between August 1 and December 31, 2013, valued at nearly $3.5 billion and attributable to 546,000 individual physicians and almost 1,360 teaching hospitals. The database is divided into three categories, general payments, research payments and physicians ownership and investments. CMS says that these ... October 1, 2014 General CMS, Physician Payment Sunshine Act, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 0 0 Comment Read More »
September 10 is last day to dispute Sunshine Act data Wednesday, September 10 is the last day that physicians can review and if necessary dispute their financial interactions as reported under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. The Sunshine Act is a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that requires drug and medical device manufacturers and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) to report their financial interactions with licensed physicians – including consulting fees, travel reimbursements, research grants and other gifts. Any payments, ownership interests and other “transfers of value” will be reported to CMS for publication in an online ... September 5, 2014 General Physician Payment Sunshine Act, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 0 0 Comment Read More »
Huge chunk of data excluded from Open Payments website because of inaccuracies According to several news sources, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has rejected about one-third of the "Open Payment" records submitted by manufacturers and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) because of "intermingled data." When the data goes public next month, those records will not be included. CMS says it will not publish the withheld data until June 2015, when it expects that manufacturers will have had time to correct the inaccuracies. Physician Payments Sunshine Act is a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Drug and medical ... August 21, 2014 Medi-Cal, Medicare CMS, Physician Payment Sunshine Act, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMS temporarily takes Sunshine Act system offline The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) announced yesterday that the verification system for financial interactions tracked under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act system has been taken offline temporarily because of physician complaints of inaccuracies. Under the Sunshine Act, drug and medical device manufacturers are required to report their financial interactions with licensed physicians – including consulting fees, travel reimbursements, research grants and other gifts. Any payments, ownership interests and other “transfers of value” will be reported to CMS for publication in an online database. CMS had opened the system for ... August 8, 2014 Medi-Cal, Medicare CMS, Physician Payment Sunshine Act, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 0 0 Comment Read More »
Physicians can review Sunshine Act data starting today The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that starting today physicians can complete part 2 of the registration process to review and dispute disclosures under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Physicians have 45 days to review and dispute their data (plus an additional 15 days to resolve disputes). The review and dispute process ends August 27, 2014. The information will be published publicly on September 30, 2014. Under the Sunshine Act, drug and medical device manufacturers are required to report their financial interactions with licensed physicians – including ... July 15, 2014 General Advocacy, Physician Payment Sunshine Act, Regulatory Advocacy, CMS 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMS proposes to end Sunshine Act CME exclusion The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has decided to eliminate the continuing medical education (CME) exclusion for the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. The news was included in the 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule. The Sunshine Act stems from a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Under the Sunshine Act, drug and medical device manufacturers are required to report their financial interactions with licensed physicians – including consulting fees, travel reimbursements, research grants and other gifts. Any payments, ownership interests and other “transfers of ... July 15, 2014 General Health Care Reform, Physician Payment Sunshine Act, Affordable Care Act 0 0 Comment Read More »
Sunshine Act dispute proposal threatens physicians' due process A newly proposed dispute resolution process for inaccurate Physician Payments Sunshine Act data would deny physicians their due process rights, the American Medical Association (AMA) and California Medical Association (CMA) told the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in comment letters this week. Under the Sunshine Act, drug and medical device manufacturers are required to report their financial interactions with licensed physicians – including consulting fees, travel reimbursements, research grants and other gifts. Any payments, ownership interests and other “transfers of value” will be reported to CMS for publication ... June 18, 2014 General CMS, Physician Payment Sunshine Act, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 0 0 Comment Read More »
Act now to protect yourself under the Physician Payment Sunshine Act By taking four easy steps now, you can make sure you're prepared when it's time to review your 2013 financial data before it's published online later this year. Under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, drug and medical device manufacturers started tracking their financial interactions with licensed physicians – including consulting fees, travel reimbursements, research grants and other gifts – beginning Aug. 1, 2013. Any payments, ownership interests and other “transfers of value” will be reported to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for publication in an online database ... January 6, 2014 General Physician Payment Sunshine Act, Legal Issues 0 0 Comment Read More »
