Sunshine Act Open Payments Data Release

On Tuesday, September 30^th, CMS released information reported by the drug and device manufacturers as payments or transfers of value between the manufacturer and a physician, under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act’s Open Payments program.

Despite assurances that physicians would be able to review and correct any inaccurate data, many users encountered difficulty registering and reviewing their information within the available timeframe. In addition, due to concerns about accuracy CMS has withheld one-third of its data from this initial release. Physicians who were unable to review their data prior to September 11^th should review their data and file any disputes regarding inaccurate information by December 31^st prior to the next data release. To access the CMS Open Payments website, go to http://www.cms.gov/openpayments/index.html. For additional resources, see http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/advocacy/topics/sunshine-act-and-physician-financial-transparency-reports.page.