Physician Payments Sunshine Act: Key Steps Physicians Need to Take July 29, 2014 Physician Resource Physician Financial Transparency Reports, open payments, Sunshine Act 0 The Physician Payments Sunshine Act (Sunshine Act) requires manufacturers of drugs, medical devices and biologicals that participate in U.S. federal health care programs to report certain payments and items of value given to physicians and teaching hospitals. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been charged with implementing the Sunshine Act and has called it the Open Payments Program. As part of this program, manufacturers are now required to submit reports on payment, transfer and ownership information. Physicians have the right to review their reports and challenge reports that are false, inaccurate or misleading. However, the time frame for initiating disputes and having data corrected or publicly marked as disputed is extremely limited. Key steps and dates are below. Step 1: Complete CMS e-verification process today CMS requires a two-phase registration process. In phase 1, which is now open, physicians complete CMS' e-verification process via the CMS Enterprise Portal (EIDM). Click here to access step-by-step instructions. Step 2: Register with CMS' Open Payments system Once physicians have completed Step 1 and gained access to EIDM, physicians can move onto phase two and register in CMS' Open Payments System. Click here to access key information from CMS. Step 3: Review and dispute data within 45 days Physicians can request their individual report, review it and flag disputes after completing Step 2. CMS has indicated that it will not resolve disputes, but errors can be reported to manufacturers through the Open Payments System or directly through Open Payments contacts listed on most manufacturer websites. Physicians must initiate disputes by mid-August to have potentially erroneous data flagged in the initial public release. Questions? E-mail CMS’ Open Payments Help Desk at openpayments@cms.hhs.gov or call (855) 326-8366 Other important dates: 9/30: Data released publicly CMS publishes majority of data including physician-specific information 12/31: Last day to file dispute for 2013 report data This is the deadline for initiating a dispute of incorrect data reported for transfers made and ownerships held in 2013. If a physician waits until after data has been made public to initiate a dispute, the data will not be marked as disputed in the public database until the agency updates the information, which could be six months to a year later. Comments are closed.
