The Sunshine Act - It's Finally ‘Official'

By Kevin Williams

So now that the long wait is over for the final rule, where do you go from here? On February 8th, 2013 the final rule of the Physician Payment Sunshine Provision (PPSP aka "Sunshine Act") was released by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). What this essentially means is beginning August 1, 2013, data tracking must initiate by applicable manufacturers of drugs, devices, and biologicals of all payments and transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals. The initial submission of this data is then required to Health and Human Services (HHS) by March 31, 2014 and will continue thereafter on an annual basis. (Note - Payments less than $10 are exempt from reporting until the aggregate annual total per company per covered recipient reaches $100, at which point all payments must be disclosed). Lastly, CMS then plans to release the reported payment information on a public website by September 30, 2014...and the process will continue annually thereafter.