Physician Payment Sunshine Act: OMB and CMS Seek Comments For Dispute Resolution and Comment Process

In the Federal Register, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) posted a notice for interested parties to submit comments on the Dispute Resolution period of Open Payments (Physician Payment Sunshine Act).

As we recently posted, last Thursday CMS announced that physicians and teaching hospitals will be able to register in the CMS system starting June 1^st. However, they will not be able to access the system or dispute the data until a yet unannounced date in July, August or September.

In its call for comment, CMS states:

“[W]e are announcing the addition of the dispute resolution and corrections process to this information collection request (ICR). The dispute resolution and corrections process was discussed in our initial submission to OMB. However, based on the detailed processes of review and corrections as well as the sensitivities around these processes, we felt it appropriate to solicit additional public feedback on how these interactions would occur. Therefore we are resubmitting a revised ICR for OMB review and approval. While we are submitting a revision of the entire ICR, we are specifically seeking comments on the dispute resolution and comment process” (emphasis added).

Comments are due by June 2, 2014. When commenting on the proposed information collections, CMS asks that you reference the document identifier or OMB control number. To be assured consideration, comments and recommendations must be received by CMS or the OMB desk officer via one of the following transmissions:

1. Electronically, to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for “Comment or Submission” or “More Search Options” to find the information collection document(s) that are accepting comments.
2. By regular mail, to: CMS, Office of Strategic Operations and Regulatory Affairs, Division of Regulations Development, Attention: Document Identifier/OMB Control Number ____, Room C4-26-05, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21244-1850.
3. OMB, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention: CMS Desk Officer, Fax Number: (202) 395-5806 or, Email: OIRA_submission@omb.eop.gov.

Commentary

Given the moving target nature of the dispute resolution process, with physicians being repeatedly told that the registration with Open Payments would be coming soon, stakeholders should consider giving input asking for more time for physicians to register into the system before their data goes public. The idea of a small window (45 days) with little to no notice, is unsettling for many physicians. It is not clear given that the window start date is not yet certain that physicians and teaching hospital staff will even be able to register and check their data within the 45 days. CMS would be wise in stretching out this process to ensure that physicians and teaching hospitals have adequate time to review their data, submit questions, and come to some type of resolution.