Physician Payments Sunshine Act: CMS Extends Data Correction to October 31, Corrected Payments Will Be Published “On or Before December 31;” Open Payments Search Tool Launched

 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) made a number of announcements related to their Open Payments system this afternoon. The Open Payments website now has a search tool by physician name, teaching hospital, and company. CMS also announced that industry should correct disputed 2013 data by October 31 for corrections to be published on or before December 31, 2014. CMS also addressed de-identified data. Industry will soon be able to edit the de-identified payments, and will then go through a review and dispute period with covered recipients.

Industry: Correct Disputed 2013 Data by October 31

By close of business Friday, October 31, applicable manufacturers and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) should make corrections to any 2013 Open Payments disputed records, for publication on or before December 31, 2014. Remember that data corrections can be performed in the Open Payments system at any time, but any corrective action taken prior to October 31 will be reflected in the refreshed data publication on or before December 31, 2014.                     

The noted disputes were initiated by physicians and teaching hospitals during the review and dispute period held earlier this year. Here is how the data will be displayed publicly on or before December 31, 2014:

• Disputes that remain unresolved as of October 31, 2014 will display as disputed.
• Any record that was disputed and resolved as of October 31, 2014 will display as undisputed.

CMS notes: Any resolved records that result in a change to the covered recipient, and any records submitted to the Open Payments system for the first time, as well as any modifications to records currently on display, will NOT be published on or before the December 31 data refresh. That data will become available in a future data update. All data must undergo the review and dispute process in order to be published.

Step-by-step instructions for the data correction process can be found here.

Search Tool

CMS improved their database to include a physician and teaching hospital search tool. You can also search by company. The searches return all payments (general, research, and also ownership interests). They are currently asking for your feedback on ways to improve it.

CMS states that “over the coming weeks, the search tool will continue to be developed to include more functionality with the objective of providing added value to users.” Summary data, charts, graphs, and more detailed data are additional enhancements which are “already in the works.”

Open Payments De-Identified Data Return

In the coming weeks, de-identified data that was not published in the September 30 publication will be returned to applicable manufacturers and GPOs for correction and to work toward resolution. The data will soon be available in the Open Payments system to allow health care industry users to first correct it, and then to allow physicians and teaching hospitals to review it and dispute it, if needed.

CMS states that they will soon release step-by-step instructions on how to complete this process.

Open Payments Data Display Update

On October 15, 2014, CMS updated data in the “Applicable Manufacturer or Applicable GPO Making Payment Name” column in six Open Payments datasets. This update was made because payment records submitted in a consolidated report previously did not identify the company that made the payment, only the company that submitted the report. Now, payment records submitted in a consolidated report identify the company that made the payment.

Start Preparing for the 2014 Reporting Year

CMS reminds us that 2014 data will be made public on June 30, 2015. Included in this publication will be data for the 2014 calendar year reporting period and a complete set of replacement files for the 2013 reporting period—all containing identified data.

In the coming months, CMS will begin to release information on how you can begin preparing for the 2014 Open Payments reporting year. Included in these communications will be key dates for you to remember, announcements about newly added educational resources, and system enhancement information.