On July 15, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its proposed rule to update the Medicare physician fee schedule for 2016. Among the many proposals, CMS seeks comment on whether to add Open Payments data to its “Physician Compare” website.
Comments are due no later than 5 p.m. on September 8, 2015.
CMS launched the first phase of Physician Compare on December 30, 2010, and so far the website mainly contains physician identification information as well as whether they participate in various “Quality” programs, including the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), Electronic Prescribing (eRX) Incentive Programs, and Electronic Health Records. (You can search your doctor by name or specialty here).
In its recently released Call for Comment (see page 123), CMS proposed to add additional data to each doctor’s Physician Compare page, including Open Payments data.
According to CMS “Consumer testing has indicated that [Open Payments] data are of great interest to consumers,” states CMS. Open Payments is a searchable database that lists physicians next to the payments or transfers of value they receive from the pharmaceutical and device industry–such transactions may include meals, consulting arrangements, travel expenses, research payments, speaking fees, and a host of other industry interactions. “Consumers have indicated that this level of transparency is important to them and access to this information on Physician Compare increases their ability to find and evaluate the information.”
Thus, CMS is seeking comment about including Open Payments data on individual physician pages. “Although these data are already publicly available, consumer testing has also indicated that additional context, wording, and data display considerations can help consumers better understand the information,” the agency states. “We are now seeking comment on adding these data to Physician Compare; to the extent it is feasible and appropriate. Prior to considering a formal proposal, we can continue to test these data with consumers to establish the context and framing needed to best ensure these data are accurately understood and presented in a way that assists decision making. Therefore, we only seek comment at this time.”
Discussion
CMS states that the Physician Compare website supports the agency’s “overarching goals of providing consumers with quality of care information that will help them make informed decisions about their health care, while encouraging clinicians to improve the quality of care they provide to their patients.” However, including Open Payments data in a program that CMS identifies as indicating “quality” serves only to further obscure the benefits that industry-physician collaborations bring to patients. CMS’s proposal indicates that they are interested in establishing the proper context around these payments; thus it will be important to provide comments.
It should also be noted that CMS is seeking to add utilization data to the Physician Compare downloadable database. Utilization data is information generated from Medicare Part B claims on services and procedures provided to Medicare beneficiaries by physicians and other healthcare professionals. CMS has recently made this data available in a searchable file. We highlighted how easy this utilization data is to misinterpret earlier this year. CMS seeks comment on this proposal as well.
Comments are due on September 8, 2015. You may submit electronic comments on this regulation to www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for ‘‘submitting a comment.’’ In commenting, refer to file code CMS–1631–P