Progress toward best practices
In the 18 months since the publication of the JAMA recommendations, more than a dozen AMCs around the country have responded to the call to adopt more stringent regulations.
The Prescription Project has been actively engaged with leaders at AMCs, including the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Massachusetts, as well as the institutions mentioned in Table 1. We have assisted a number of these centers in drafting and implementing new policies. We are also working with select AMCs to conduct in-depth case studies that will provide new insights for institutions and leaders nationally.
Following are “best policies” in each of the issue areas addressed in the JAMA recommendations. Leaders at other AMCs can use these exemplary policies to begin discussions with faculty and staff about the importance and feasibility of strengthening existing regulations. Doing so will improve patient care and protect the integrity of medical decision-making by reducing the influence of industry marketing on prescribing patterns.
"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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