A group of 26 physician organizations wrote to CMS asking for further clarification and context regarding upcoming public reporting of data showing how much drug makers pay physicians.
"As representatives of multiple physician organizations and manufacturers that are impacted by the law, we are committed to the success of the Sunshine Act," reads the letter. "Accordingly, we are reaching out to you collectively in the hope that, by identifying the following issues, we can work collaboratively with CMS to remedy them.
The letter first identifies the need for CMS to provide context to the general public when the data becomes publicly available in September. The letter compares the sharing of this data to the release of Medicare Part B data in which only physician names and numbers were presented without any explanation of the data. "We do not believe this is an effective way to share data with the public and, in fact, can lead to confusion and misinterpretation," reads the letter.
The organizations then ask CMS to provide physician stakeholders a preview of the proposed contextual information.
Secondly, the writing organizations ask CMS to expand its educational efforts and outreach to physicians, as many physicians may not be aware of the multiple requirements of the Sunshine Act. They also request CMS details what information is reported, when it will be reported, what the reporting will look like and how physicians can see what will be reported about them.
The letter acknowledges that CMS has hosted webinars and drafted a fact sheet with such information, but says such information is not being provided in a timely manner to physicians. Additionally, a new proposed Physician Fee Schedule for 2015 includes changes to the Sunshine Act regarding payments for physicians speaking at Continuing Medical Education programs, and the physician groups urge CMS to "evaluate the unintended consequences this change could have on the medical education landscape in the United States."
Lastly, the letter asks CMS to simplify physician registration on the Open Payments database, calling it "cumbersome" and "overly personal" while also mentioning fears that physicians will not complete their registrations for these reasons. The groups ask CMS to increase awareness efforts as well as share the number of registered physicians with the provider community to "help us ascertain the extent to which additional efforts are needed to both increase physician awareness and potentially assist with registration."
The Sunshine Act requires group purchasing organizations and medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers to submit financial data on payments made to physicians. CMS plans to make the data public in September.
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