Connecticut Transparency Law: Manufacturers Must Submit One Form at a Time Via Email

Manufacturers must report quarterly on their transfers of value made to advance practice registered nurses (APRNs) practicing in Connecticut. This group includes nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, and nurse midwives. APRNs are excluded from the reporting obligations under the Federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act, but Connecticut passed this disclosure requirement as part of their new law allowing APRNs to practice and prescribe independently of physicians. 

On December 29th, 2014, Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection released the state’s expenditure disclosure form that  manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals and medical supplies are expected to email to the state. 

EXPENDITURE DISCLOSURE FORM FOR MANUFACTURERS SUBJECT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 75 OF PUBLIC ACT 14-217

The form covers the first quarter of 2015–from January 1 to March 31. The form must be submitted to the Dept. of Consumer Protection no later than July 1, 2015.

In what is a big change from Federal reporting, an individual form must be emailed to the Department of Consumer Protection for each registered APRN in Connecticut for which manufacturers have made payments. This reporting obligation is made more cumbersome due to the fact that reporting is due quarterly. 

Per the website:

Please submit the form below to the email address: DCP.DrugManufacturers@ct.gov.  Email is the only acceptable method for submission of this form.

In each form, manufacturers must fill out:

• Name of manufacturer
• Recipient information: First and last name, medical license number, Connecticut controlled substance registration (if applicable)
• Date the expenditure occurred
• Value/amt of expenditure
• Nature of expenditure:

1. 1. cash/check/credit
   2. educational
   3. demo/evaluation unit;
   4. other

• Purpose of the Expenditure: 

1. 1. conference sponsorship
   2. faculty honoraria/speaker fee
   3. faculty expense
   4. scholarship/fellowship
   5. educational expense
   6. medical device – loans, demos
   7. medical device training- compensation
   8. medical device training – other expenses
   9. bona fide clinical trial – gross compensation
   10. bona fide clinical trial – salary support
   11. bona fide clinical trial – expenses
   12. research project – gross compensation
   13. research project – salary support
   14. research project – expenses
   15. consulting
   16. gift to institution/organization
   17. other FMV payment
   18. other (there is no character limit in the “other” text box.)

• Product type and Product name (up to five)
• Name and email address of the person who completes the form

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According to Governor Malloy’s administration, which signed the proposal into law, there are approximately 4,000 licensed APRNs in Connecticut. Since each manufacturer must submit an email for each individual APRN quarterly, it will be interesting to see the volume of emails Connecticut’s Dept. of Consumer Protection has to sift through. 

Notably, the Department has no plans to consolidate this information into a public database. The information will be open to a FOIA request, but isn’t going to be generally available to the public. 

A number of other states impose additional transparency requirements above and beyond the Federal Sunshine Act: California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Vermont and West Virginia. Now that the Federal Sunshine reporting is in full swing, it will be important to follow whether the trend is for more states to expand their disclosure requirements or to defer to the federal system. 

Because Connecticut’s disclosure law follows directly on the heels of the state’s legislation giving independence to APRNs, it is worth noting that so far 19 states have already enacted similar legislation, according to the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners. Pennsylvania may not be far behind if Senate Bill No. 1063 is any indication. 

Thanks to Elias Okwara at healthmarketscience for the tip.