Physician Payment Sunshine Act: CMS Registration for Open Payments

To school of medicine faculty and staff

Dear Colleagues,

Soon your patients, colleagues, friends and neighbors will be able to see the payment amounts you have received from industry in connection with the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Under the law, manufacturers of drugs, medical devices and biologics must report a wide range of payments made to physicians and teaching hospitals. Payments and "transfers of value" worth more than $10 must be reported. After a review period, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will post payment information, with details such as recipient name, date, purpose and value, on a publicly accessible website.  

On June 1, 2014, you will be able to register to gain access to the data that will be reported publicly. We encourage you to register promptly so that you can review these data as soon as they become available.

Registration information is available at cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/National-Physician-Payment-Transparency-Program/Physicians.html.

We anticipate that CMS will announce the date on which physicians can review the data soon. Once the data are available for review, there will be a 60-day period of time during which you can dispute the data. Details about the review and dispute process are not yet available, but once CMS provides the information, we will share it with you.    

The Sunshine Act does not require reporting by physicians, medical schools or hospitals. Rather, companies are required to submit reports of payments they have made to physicians—defined as M.D., D.O., D.D./D.D.M., D.D.S., D.P.M., O.D. and D.C.P.—and teaching hospitals. Payments made for research, whether to teaching hospitals, individuals or other organizations, such as medical schools, will be reported separately. This year, CMS will post information about payments made from Aug. 1, 2013 to Dec. 31, 2013. Thereafter, reporting will cover calendar years. More information is available at the websites listed below.

Subscribe to the CMS mailing list to receive updates on the program: cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/National-Physician-Payment-Transparency-Program/Contact-Us.html.

Information on the CMS mobile app, which allows you to record payments and transfers of value: 
cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/National-Physician-Payment-Transparency-Program/Apps-for-Tracking-Assistance.html.

Additional information about the Sunshine Act is available on the Office of Policy Coordination's website at hopkinsmedicine.org/Research/OPC/Policies_Regulations/Sunshine_Act. 

Again, we want to encourage you to be aware in advance of what will be made public and to register to review payment information.

Sincerely,

Landon S. King, M.D.
Executive Vice Dean
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Antony Rosen, M.D.
Vice Dean for Research
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

William A. Baumgartner, M.D.
Senior Vice President, Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
President, Clinical Practice Association