Physician Payments Sunshine Act: Physician and Teaching Hospital Registration Begins
Starting June 1st, physicians and teaching hospital representatives can register with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to complete step one of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act data review process. Physicians register with the CMS Enterprise Portal, a step many physicians may have already completed as this gateway enables access to a number of CMS programs. Although registration with CMS is a voluntary process, it is required if the physician or teaching hospital wants to be able to review and dispute any of the data pharmaceutical manufacturers have reported about them as part of the Sunshine Act’s mandatory disclosures.
Sometime in July, Phase 2 will begin, and physicians will actually be able to register in the Open Payments system, check their data, and potentially engage in dispute resolution with pharmaceutical and device companies before the September 30th public release. Applicable manufacturers and applicable GPOs can see disputes and correct data before CMS makes it public. The “Review, Dispute, and Corrections” Process dispute will take place at least 60 days before the information is made public. For a breakdown of Phase 2 responsibilities, click here.
Latest Sunshine Act Timeline
According to CMS, physician requirements run parallel to manufacturers’ data submission and attestation process, which goes from June 1 – June 30. The data is supposed to be go public on September 30, 2014:
What Physicians Can Do Now:
Complete Phase 1 by:
- Registering for your EIDM user ID and password, click here for a step by step slideshow on registration
- Requesting access to the Open Payments system via EIDM
- Register on CMS listserv to receive e-mail updates about the Open Payments program at http://go.cms.gov/openpayments and enter email address on the main page, in the “Email Updates” box
Identifying Information
It should be noted that all users who register for EIDM have their identities verified. EIDM matches information entered by users to information provided by Experian. Out of Wallet questions are also used to verify identity—these ask for private data and contain information pulled from your credit report such as: mortgage lender name, previous employer name, auto lender name.
CMS states that these questions and answers are shared only between the EIDM registrant and the verification service provider, Experian; the information will not be stored in EIDM.
A “soft credit inquiry” will be made during EIDM registration. Soft credit inquiries are visible only to the EIDM registrant and only appear on credit reports produced by Experian (shown as an inquiry made by CMS). CMS states that identity proofing does not affect credit score.
We hope CMS has put a large emphasis on data security.
American Medical Association Encourages Physicians to Register
“The Sunshine Act will impact many physicians with a current medical license and it is important that they are properly registered to review and ensure the accuracy of the data reported by manufacturers and group purchasing organizations before the world sees it,” said AMA President Ardis Hoven, M.D. “To avert one of the problems that came to light as a result of the Medicare claims data release earlier this year, we strongly urge physicians to make sure their information in the national provider identifier (NPI) database is current.”
CMS has had trouble implementing the Sunshine Act. AMA notes that the agency “has missed nearly every deadline laid out in the law and regulations to implement it.” Although the pharmaceutical and medical device industries were supposed to be able to submit their reports by March 31st, the database has yet to be completed. Furthermore, CMS split both the data submission process for manufacturers and the dispute resolution process for physicians into two parts, as noted above. These delays raise serious concerns about whether the database will function properly. Because data accuracy is of upmost important, physicians should have more rather than less time to complete the process.
The AMA is advocating for physicians to have more time to register and review the data contained in the CMS database for accuracy prior to publication. “It’s unfortunate that CMS has not given physicians more time to register and review the data to ensure accuracy prior to publication,” said Dr. Hoven.
AMA notes that “[t]he multi-step registration and the database review process are just two of the burdens physicians are facing right now as they also navigate challenges related to quality reporting, meeting meaningful use requirements and implementing new, innovative models of care.”