Section 6002 of the Affordable Care Act (also referred to as the “Physician Payments Sunshine Act”) requires public disclosure of the financial relationships between physicians and the pharmaceutical, medical device and biologics industries. The Affordable Care Act also requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish reporting procedures for applicable manufacturers to submit such information on an annual basis, as well as procedures for making that information available to the public. Under the law, applicable manufacturers and applicable group purchasing organizations (GPOs) must submit report certain information regarding the ownership or investment interests held by physicians or the immediate family members of physicians in such entities to HHS.
Comments regarding the Proposed Rule will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. (EST) on February 17, 2012.
Additionally, the Senate Special Committee on Aging had scheduled a hearing entitled, “Parting the Clouds: Implementing the Physician Payments Sunshine Act” for this afternoon (December 15, 2011) to discuss the implementation of the law. However, following the release of the Proposed Rule, the Chairman of the Committee released a statement announcing the Committee’s plan to review the Proposed Rule and reschedule the hearing for early next year.
To see the text of the Proposed Rule, see the following link:
Medicare, Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Programs; Transparency Reports and Reporting of Physician Ownership or Investment Interests – Proposed Rule (to be published in Federal Register on 12/19/2011)
Comments