CMS says it started collecting data from drug and device manufacturers and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) on their payments to physicians Aug. 1 under the Sunshine Act, an Affordable Care Act provision.
Doctors don’t have to report anything – so far only affected vendors and GPOs are formally collecting financial relationship data. However, CMS is urging doctors to start tracking payments or “other transfers of value” they receive, as well as “certain ownership or investment interests held by physicians or their immediate family members.”
As an added inducement, doctors can earn continuing medical education credits through
Medscape for sitting through two online courses on the topic. Doctors and manufacturers also can
download some handy iPhone and Android apps to make tracking and reporting your payments easier and more accurate, CMS says.
Incidentally, CMS has renamed the program the “
Open Payments Program” and also the “Physician Payment Transparency Program.” Whatever the name, the program requires certain pharmaceutical, biologic and medical device makers to track and annually report to CMS payments and in-kind gifts they give to physicians and teaching hospitals. GPOs, including physician-owned distributorships, also must report ownership or investment interests held by physicians.
CMS will make those reports publicly available annually on a searchable website.