The leaders of three life science trade organizations have expressed concern that CMS' Open payments website might not provide enough context for payments from drug and device makers to physicians and teaching hospitals.
Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America President and CEO John J. Castellani, Biotechnology Industry Organization President and CEO James C. Greenwood and Advanced Medical Technology Association President and CEO Stephen J. Ubl sent a letter to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner stating that "for implementation of the Sunshine Act to be successful and for the data to be meaningful to patients and the public, the CMS Open Payments program public website must provide clear background information and context regarding such industry relationships. Such background ensures the reported data is helpful in patient decision-making. Further, providing context for reported payments and other transfers of value is critical to ensuring patients do not form mistaken impressions that all payments to physicians are suspect."
The CEOs have requested that CMS give them the opportunity to review the Open Payments portal before it goes public Sept. 30 under the Physician Payment Sunshine Act. CMS has already given physicians and teaching hospitals to access the portal before it goes public to review the data included and ensure its accuracy.
In early August, ProPublica reported CMS had temporarily suspended the Open Payments portal after a physician saw payments to another physician with the same name in his records. Shortly afterward, The Hill reported CMS was taking the system offline temporarily "to investigate a reported issue." Providers were not able to review the data while the site was being fixed.
The agency's investigation revealed manufacturers and group purchasing organizations submitted "intermingled data" for physicians with the same last and first names, according to CMS. This erroneous data — such as incorrect state license numbers or provider identifiers — falsely linked physician information in the system. However, CMS said it enacted system fixes and revalidated all data in the system before bringing it back online on Aug. 18. However, CMS later indicated the site would go offline again at times on Aug. 30 and Sept. 5 for maintenance.
The American Medical Association has also voiced concerns about the portal in light of its data issues and has called on CMS to delay the portal's public launch by six months. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, AMA President Robert Wah, MD, noted that his organization supports transparency but also said that "anybody who's looked at this website and read the 300-plus page document [that physicians must review to navigate the system] could understand more time is needed. Six months is a reasonable amount of time to get the word out to 200,000-plus physicians about what they need to do to ensure the information is accurate."