Dear Administrator Tavenner:
We, the undersigned organizations, write to identify certain pressing issues related to
implementation of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (Sunshine Act). As representatives of
multiple physician organizations and manufacturers that are impacted by the law, we are
committed to the success of the Sunshine Act. Accordingly, we are reaching out to you
collectively in the hope that, by identifying the following issues, we can work collaboratively with
CMS to remedy them.
Provide Necessary Context
Initially, and perhaps most importantly, we note that physician and industry stakeholders have
not received any information from CMS describing how context will be provided to the general
public when Sunshine data is made available in September. In reviewing the Medicare Part B
data released earlier this year, we note that the only information included and made available to
the public was related to names and numbers with no context explaining the data. We do not
believe this is an effective way to share data with the public and, in fact, can lead to confusion
and misinterpretation.
This potential public confusion is why Congress mandated CMS provide context along with the
Sunshine data’s release. Further, multiple industry stakeholders have offered blueprints as to
how context could be provided. To date, however, we have heard nothing from CMS regarding
how the data will be explained. Given the importance of this outlying issue, we ask that CMS
preview with physician stakeholders the proposed contextual information sought to accompany
the public release of the Sunshine Act data.
Increase Outreach, Education to Physicians
Additionally, we understand that many physicians are not aware of the multiple requirements of
the Sunshine Act, and we urge CMS to increase the amount of educational efforts and outreach
to physicians. This includes more information on what will be reported, when it will be reported,
what the reporting will look like, and how they can see what will be reported about them.
To be sure, we understand that CMS has hosted multiple webinars and created a fact sheet
with some of this information, however, the information being provided to physicians has not
been delivered in a timely manner. For example, CMS announced only on Friday, July 11 that
registration in the Open Payments system would open for physicians and teaching hospitals on
Monday, July 14. Similarly, this information is available alongside outdated information on the
Open Payments website, which is leading to confusion among physicians and industry
stakeholders. It is our understanding that many of physicians remain unaware of the Sunshine
Act in general, much less the specifics regarding its timeline and public reporting process. Many
physicians do not even know that they must register – twice – to review data that is being
captured about them.
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