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Issue Brief
Pew Health Group comments on the implementation of Section 6002 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
"The Pew Health Group of The Pew Charitable Trusts welcomes the opportunity to submit comments regarding the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' ("CMS") proposed rule for Medicare, Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Programs; Transparency Reports and Reporting of Physician Ownership or Interests.
The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent, non-profit organization that applies a rigorous, analytical approach to imporove public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life. Based on data, science and non-partisan research, the Pew Health Group ("Pew") works to reduce hidden risks to the health, safety, and well-being of American consumers. The Pew Prescription Project has worked to promote transparency of financial relationships between pharmaceutical and medical device makers and health care providers.
We are pleased CMS is working towards implementing the provisions of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act signed into law as section 6002 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Physician Payments Sunshine Act has the support of consumer and industry groups and leaders within the medical profession. Implementation wil bring transparency to the financial relationships between physicians and pharmaceutical and medical device companies. The Institute of Medicine has said that these financial relationships "present the risk of undue influence on professional judgements and thereby may jeopardize the integrity of scientific investigations, the objectivity of medical education, the quality of patient care, and the public's trust in medicine.
Pew was closely involved in the development of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act and in working to ensure its inclusion in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. We have also supported the develop,ent and implementation of analagous state transparenct laws. We look forward to continuing to work with CMS toward a successful implementation of this important new program.
Pew's man goals in commenting on the proposed rule are to ensure timely implementation and to promote the interest of full transparency by ensuring that data is collected, reported, and published in the most complete, consistent and accurate manner possible."
Download the PDF to read the complete letter from Alan Coukell.
"The legislation requiring public disclosure of the financial relationships between healthcare vendors and physicians has been widely discussed in policy circles for years. Critics claimed payments for speaking, consulting, research or even the small trinkets and meals delivered during routine sales calls unduly influenced physician choices and inflated healthcare costs. To combat those effects, Congress required public reporting of those payments in a publicly accessible database. The legislation, labeled the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, was included in the 2010 healthcare reform law."
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Prescription project director Danny Carlat identifies issues with the Physician Payments Sunshine Act requiring further clarification and guidance. Addressing those would ensure that manufacturers can appropriately implement the final rule, and enable consumers to benefit from transparency reports published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
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The Pew Charitable Trusts is working to decrease the influence of pharmaceutical marketing on doctors’ practices. With a three-year grant from the Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education Grant Program, Pew is collaborating several partners to improve conflict-of-interest policies within the 158 medical schools and 400 major teaching hospitals in the United States.
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The Pew Charitable Trusts appreciates this opportunity to submit comments to CMS's "Information Collection Activities" draft guidance. We suggest that both the research and non-research payment templates be modified in order to make it easier for consumers to identify which drugs, devices, biologicals, or medical supplies are associated with particular transfers of value.
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On Feb. 1, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published the final rule guiding implementation of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which Congress passed as part of the Affordable Care Act in March 2010 to increase transparency in the relationships between physicians and drug and medical device makers. Here are some of the highlights.
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