Sunshine Act Report
The establishment of the Physician Payment Sunshine Act was the beginning of a new chapter for communication between corporations in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and pharmaceutical equipment zones and specialists and training institutions in the US.
The Act was constructed to provide visibility into the economic affairs between these two types of systems, as authorized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
In 2021, the program will consist of wages for assistant specialists, physician assistants, scientific nurse professionals, certified registered nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologist representatives, and certified nurse-obstetricians.
What is the Motivation for Implementing the Sunshine Act?
The Act was enforced to improve a clear and answerable health care system in the US by enhancing the clarity of monetary relations between doctors, training institutions, and manufacturers of medicines and pharmaceutical equipment. The agreements between these organizations and providers are documented and made openly available in the form of an internal database known as Open Payments.
What amounts are required to be followed under the Sunshine Act?
Two types of data have to be accounted for under the Act:
- Amounts or transfers offered by drug, machine, and pharmaceutical supply manufacturers to the beneficiaries listed in the preceding section, and
- Partnership divisions or expenditures in GPOs or producers run by specialists or members of their immediate families.
Any amounts or transfers of benefit in either of these sections above $10 must be disclosed, and all donations above $100 will be reported through the CMS open payments online portal.
The reportable liabilities consist of:
- Consulting fees
- Analysis costs
- Training and learning
- Honoraria for medical services
- Gifts
- Direct fees, rewards, and investment interests
- Meals, travel, and entertainment
- Charitable contributions
- Royalties and rights
- Rental or resource fees (for teaching hospitals only)
Corporations and other businesses must submit annual records relating to all applicable payments. Affiliated parties with payments recorded on their behalf should take the opportunity during the annual review period to accept or deny the validity of all monetary amounts. Following each review period, the data is published annually to the public.
Businesses affected by the Sunshine Act are required to track the various types of investments and payments related to applicable provider and other beneficiaries. Applicable provider categories now include mid-level providers including physician assistants and several nursing specialties.
The Sunshine Act is the regulatory groundwork for all CMS open payments activity. If your organization requires reporting on all applicable payments and investments for the providers employed, the automated Venops open payments system is a tool worth reviewing. Each report is created through an automated system that pulls the payment and provider profile data directly from CMS in minutes following the upload a simple formatted spreadsheet.