Some health care professionals are concerned that the Physician Payment Sunshine Act — which requires health care providers to disclose compensation they receive from medical industry companies — could stifle innovation, MedPage Today reports (Pittman, MedPage Today, 3/12).
Background
Last month, CMS released a long-awaited final rule on the Physician Payment Sunshine Act and outlined a timeline for its implementation.
The Sunshine Act — which is part of the Affordable Care Act — requires medical industry companies to disclose consulting fees, travel reimbursements, research grants and other gifts that they give to physicians and teaching hospitals.
Starting Aug. 1, manufacturers of pharmaceutical and biological drugs, medical devices and medical supplies will be expected to report all transfers of monetary value over $10 to physicians and teaching hospitals.
All data collected from August through December must be reported to CMS by March 31, 2014, according to the final rule. The agency will publish the data on a public website by Sept. 30, 2014. CMS is creating an electronic system to help facilitate the reporting process.
Physicians will be given a 45-day “review and correction” period to ensure the accuracy of any disclosures to CMS, according to the final rule (iHealthBeat, 2/5).
Physicians’ Concerns
During an event sponsored by the Healthcare Leadership Council, several physicians voiced their concerns about the Sunshine Act.
The Healthcare Leadership Council said its members generally are satisfied with the way the Sunshine Act’s rules were presented but are concerned about the website that CMS is launching to make the data publicly available.
David Caraway — a physician at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in West Virginia — said that public disclosure of industry gifts is a “disincentive for innovation and collaboration” and could make some doctors less likely to participate in educational events or collaborative projects sponsored by pharmaceutical companies.
Ryan Hohman — managing director of policy and public affairs at the advocacy group Friends of Cancer Cancer Research — said, “Like it or not, successful innovation requires commercial entities to be involved, and successful education of physicians will require all experts to be educating each other” (MedPage Today, 3/12).
Source: iHealthBeat
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