CMS delays implementation of Sunshine Act
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced late last week a delay to the implementation of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. CMS will not require data collection from manufacturers and group purchasing organizations until Jan. 1, 2013.
In a blog entry published on May 3, CMS said the agency was delaying the implementation so that organizations would have more time to prepare for data submission and so that CMS could “sufficiently address the important input we received during the rulemaking process.”
When CMS published a proposed rule to make more transparent the financial dealings between physicians and medical device manufacturers and group purchasing organizations last December, it received more than 300 comments. The final rule has yet to be released. The lack of a final rule has upset many in the industry and the response to the news of the latest delay has been mixed.
[See also: CMS releases overdue Sunshine Act guidance and Sunshine Act provision adds transparency.]
“The group purchasing industry is disappointed that CMS has decided to delay the implementation of the Physician Payment Sunshine Act,” said Curtis Rooney, president of the Healthcare Supply Chain Association, in a statement provided to Healthcare Finance News. “Implementing these regulations is an important element in ensuring that the physician-patient relationship is not clouded by conflicts of interest, especially in connection with medical device manufacturers not already under court-enforced obligations to make these relationships public. The Physician Payment Sunshine Act is critical to ensuring that patients have total confidence that their doctor’s advice is based on health considerations and not a deal with a third party.”
The delay, said Animesh Gandhi, director of aggregate spend at consulting firm Alliance Life Sciences, may be good for the industry in the end if it means a more comprehensive final draft and as long as CMS provides the final regulation no later than the second quarter of this year.
“(We’re) disappointed by the delay in the timeline,” Gandhi said, “but I think more accurate integration of the regulation and making sure the companies are complying is going to be a better thing for the industry than just basically getting something out there and then the companies not being in the position to make sure they’re capturing the same number of data.”
In its blog last week, CMS said it plans on releasing the Sunshine Act’s final rule later this year but offered no specific date.
