Legislators who authored the Physician Payments Sunshine Act — Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) — are again putting pressure on CMS, insisting in an open letter the government organization start data collection by June.
Primarily, the Sunshine Act is a call for transparency and accountability. It mandates the reporting of payments made by pharmaceutical, medical device or other supply manufacturers to physicians and teaching hospitals, and requires that financial relationships between physicians, manufacturers and group purchasing organizations be made public.
CMS is tasked with creating a database about such relationships.
"We encourage CMS to be clear on guidelines and context so that the data posted online is meaningful and understandable," Sens. Grassley and Kohl write.
As noted in their April 4 letter addressed to Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, CMS failed to meet an original Oct. 1, 2011 deadline for implementing Sunshine Act regulations, instead publishing its proposed rules more than two months later. The senators have asked CMS to respond by April 18 to their most recent letter outlining recommendations.
Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, violators of the Sunshine Act would pay up to $150,000 in annually civil monetary fees for failing to report relationships and up to $1 million for knowingly failing to report.
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Primarily, the Sunshine Act is a call for transparency and accountability. It mandates the reporting of payments made by pharmaceutical, medical device or other supply manufacturers to physicians and teaching hospitals, and requires that financial relationships between physicians, manufacturers and group purchasing organizations be made public.
CMS is tasked with creating a database about such relationships.
"We encourage CMS to be clear on guidelines and context so that the data posted online is meaningful and understandable," Sens. Grassley and Kohl write.
As noted in their April 4 letter addressed to Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, CMS failed to meet an original Oct. 1, 2011 deadline for implementing Sunshine Act regulations, instead publishing its proposed rules more than two months later. The senators have asked CMS to respond by April 18 to their most recent letter outlining recommendations.
Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, violators of the Sunshine Act would pay up to $150,000 in annually civil monetary fees for failing to report relationships and up to $1 million for knowingly failing to report.
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