Physician Payment Sunshine Act: CMS Opens Registration February 18, “Aggregate 2013 Payment Data” Due March 31; More Detailed Report Due Between May 30 and July 31
CMS announced important information regarding registration and data submission for the 2013 – Open Payments Program Year.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that starting February 18, Open Payments registration and data submission for the Physician Payments Sunshine Act will open with a two-phased approach for reporting 2013 payments. Industry stakeholders have been pressing CMS about hard dates for months, and now the “Early 2014” deadline is finally clarified.
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Phase 1 (February 18 through March 31) includes user registration in CMS’ Enterprise Portal (the gateway to CMS’ Enterprise Identity Management system (EIDM)) and submission of corporate profile information and aggregate 2013 payment data.
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Phase 2 (begins in May and extends for no fewer than 30 days) includes industry registration in the Open Payments system, submission of detailed 2013 payment data, and legal attestation to the accuracy of the data.
Both phases of data submission will be complete by August 1, and at that time healthcare providers and manufacturers will have an opportunity to review and correct inaccuracies. No action is needed from covered recipients (affected physicians and teaching hospitals) at this time.
Analysis
Though not publically announced, this probably will result in two public releases of data. The initial aggregate data (total payments by company) will likely be released on September 30, 2014. The second wave of information, which will include the detailed, attested payment information will be released to the public some time on or after January 31, 2015, which is six months after receipt of the data. This matches the original timeline in the final rule, giving physicians the opportunity to register and the time to review the Sunshine data before the data is published.
Unfortunately, the communications from CMS may have created more confusion, as at least one consulting firm is scratching their heads asking what constitutes aggregate reporting vs. detailed reporting with no idea of what the actual date of submission is and one law firm is giving out a due date of aggregate submission sometime in May 2014, as the CMS website says companies will have no fewer than 30 days to submit detailed data, and that Phase 2 should be complete by August 1. Another consulting company Polaris is recommending given all of this, companies should be targeting beginning detailed submission and attestation at the end of May/beginning of June with final submission and attestation by July 31st, 2014.
This change to a two phase reporting period will only apply for 2013 data and there is no indication that the delayed reporting will hold true in years going forward. CMS has indicated they will not fine companies for submission of data prior to August 1, 2014.
Physicians and Teaching Hospitals will have the opportunity to review the data sometime after August 1, 2014, but there is still no specified time frame.
It will also be interesting to see whether CMS’ website is prepared for the multitude of data they will surely receive. In our coverage of the Disclosure Summit, we asked CMS to clarify whether companies with hundreds of thousands of transactions will be able to submit a disk instead of plugging all the data into the Open Payments’ system. CMS responded that industry will not be able to provide external information. CMS offers two forms of data submission: “automatic bulk load or individual record load.”
Phase 1 Instructions
Step 1: CMS Enterprise Portal Registration (EIDM Registration)
The first step of Phase 1 requires industry to register in the CMS Enterprise Portal. This is the gateway to registration in EIDM.
The EIDM user ID that the registrant will ultimately receive is required for any future data submissions in the Open Payments system. The authorized official (an entity’s executive-level officer who can legally represent their organization) must complete EIDM registration and obtain their user ID. EIDM registration must be completed before industry can begin any 2013 data submission activities. Note: The authorized official can then delegate data submission responsibilities to others (referred to as authorized representatives) after EIDM registration.
The Data Submission and Attestation page provides more details about on how the second step of Phase 1, submission of corporate profile information and aggregate 2013 payment data via email, will be conducted.
See the below table for a summary of the registration requirements and timeline. For additional registration details, review the Open Payments User Guide.
| Registration | ||||
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Applicable Manufacturers |
Applicable GPOs |
Physicians |
Teaching Hospitals |
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| Who registers with CMS? |
Yes, but only if there is data that has to be reported for the program cycle |
Yes, but only if there is data that has to be reported for the program cycle |
Optional, not required. Registering allows data to be seen and corrected before it is publicly posted. |
Optional, not required. Registering allows data to be seen and corrected before it is publicly posted. |
| When does the Open Payments system open for registration for the 2013 program cycle? |
Phase 1 registration will be from February 18 through March 31, 2014. Phase 2 registration will begin in May and extend for no fewer than 30 days. |
Phase 1 registration will be from February 18 through March 31, 2014. Phase 2 registration will begin in May and extend for no fewer than 30 days. |
Projected to follow the conclusion of Phase 2 of industry registration and date submission. |
Projected to follow the conclusion of Phase 2 of industry registration and date submission.
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| When does the Open Payments system close for registration for the 2013 program cycle? |
The system will remain open for at least 30 days for Phase 2 detailed data submission |
The system will remain open for at least 30 days for Phase 2 detailed data submission |
Once the system is open for physician registration, there is no deadline for physician registration. |
Once the system is open for teaching hospital registration, there is no deadline for teaching hospital registration. |
| When does the Open Payments system open for registration for on-going program cycles? |
January 1 |
January 1 |
Once the system is open for physician registration (following the conclusion of Phase 2 of industry registration and data submission in 2014), there is no start date for physician registration in subsequent years; registration can be ongoing. |
Once the system is open for teaching hospital registration (following the conclusion of Phase 2 of industry registration and data submission in 2014), there is no start date for teaching hospital registration in subsequent years; registration can be ongoing. |
| When does the Open Payments system close for registration for on-going program cycles? |
March 31 |
March 31 |
Once the system is open for physician registration (following the conclusion of Phase 2 of industry registration and data submission in 2014), there is no end date for physician registration in subsequent years; registration can be ongoing. |
Once the system is open for teaching hospital registration (following the conclusion of Phase 2 of industry registration and data submission in 2014), there is no end date for teaching hospital registration in subsequent years; registration can be ongoing. |
| Additional Notes |
The registration and identity vetting process may take up to a week to complete, so it is advised that individuals representing Applicable Manufacturers register as soon as possible in order to avoid delays in data submission. |
The registration and identity vetting process may take up to a week to complete, so it is advised that individuals representing Applicable Manufacturers register as soon as possible in order to avoid delays in data submission. |
Registration that occurs beyond the review and dispute period does not guarantee that any changes can be made to inaccurate data being displayed. |
Registration that occurs beyond the review and dispute period does not guarantee that any changes can be made to inaccurate data being displayed
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Registration Webinar
Next week, CMS will announce the date and registration information for an industry-focused webinar event, aimed at providing extensive discussion of the phased approach to Open Payments registration and data submission.
Senate Responds
Senator Grassley of Iowa put made the following comment on the announcement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that it will begin to receive data under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act on Feb. 18. The agency said it will post the data on its website by the end of September 2014. Grassley is the co-author of the bipartisan Sunshine Act, enacted in 2010, that will disclose the financial relationships between drug and medical device companies and doctors. The legislation came after Grassley’s investigative and oversight work exposed numerous examples of major discrepancies between the reporting of payments and the receipt of payments.
“The Sunshine Act will help inform the public about the financial relationships between the drug and medical device industry and doctors. The disclosure of key items will be uniform. Consumers will get a much fuller picture of the industry’s financial presence in medicine than they have now. The trend toward payment transparency is good for the public and good for accountability.”
The senator may be a little suprised when only aggregate data is posted the end of September 2014.
Policy and Medicine will continue to provide coverage on any new Sunshine developments.