Sunshine Act/CMS Reports

Physician Payments Sunshine Act ("Open Payments")

The Physicians Payments Sunshine Act ("Open Payments") is being implemented as part of the Affordable Care Act to ensure transparency between physicians and industry. Manufacturers of drugs, medical devices, and biologicals will track and report to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) payments and items of value (>$10) given to physician and teaching hospitals. In addition, manufacturers and group purchasing organizations must report certain ownership interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. The industry reports will be made available to the public on a searchable, public website provided by CMS. The first report was available on September 2014. Subsequent reports become available by the end of June every year.

The Sunshine Act Defines Physicians as the Following Types of Professionals:

• PHYSICIANS*
  • Doctor of Medicine (MD)*
  • Doctor of Osteopathy (DO)
  • Doctor of Dentistry (DMD/DDS)
  • Doctor of Dental Surgery
  • Doctor of Podiatry
  • Doctor of Optometry
  • Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine
• Physician Assistants
• Nurse Practitioners
• Clinical Nurse Specialists
• Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists
• Anesthesiologist Assistants
• Certified Nurse Midwives

*Medical residents are excluded from the definition of physicians for the purpose of the Sunshine Act.

Applicable Manufacturers are Required to Categorize All Reportable Payments as the Following:

• Consulting fees
• Compensation for services other than consulting, including serving as faculty or as a speaker at an event other than through a continuing education program
• Honoraria
• Gifts
• Entertainment
• Food and beverage
• Travel and lodging
• Education
• Research
• Charitable contributions
• Royalty or license
• Current or prospective ownership or investment interest
• Compensation for serving as faculty or as a speaker for an unaccredited or non-certified continuing education program
• Compensation for serving as faculty or as a speaker for an accredited or certified continuing education program
• Grants
• Space rental or facility fees (teaching hospitals only)

What UNM Physicians Need to Do:

• Register in the CMS website in order to view and potentially correct your payment records prior to publication
• Ensure that your Conflicts of Interest Disclosures are accurate and up-to-date. Check your status here. 
• Discuss with and acquire written approval from your department chair when considering outside consulting relationships with pharmaceutical/biomedical/device companies
• Be sure to read any email updates sent by the HSC COI Office that have the subject "Sunshine Act"

Sunshine Act Reporting

The CMS website provides a report once per year in June. Data collected from the previous year (January through December) is reported in the annual reports. The COI Office sends memos to the HSC faculty to inform them when they can review their information and dispute it if there are errors. This can only occur in a specific time frame. Industry will correct errors prior to publication but if the information is still under dispute at the time of publication it will be reported as such in the report.

The 2014 report was published on June 30, 2015. Individual reports by name and state can be done here.

Important Links

• The Open Payments - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website will keep you informed of the latest developments. You can also sign up for email updates about Open Payments from this web page.
• The Physician Fact Sheet and the Physician Publication provide additional information about Open Payments.
• Questions concerning Open Payments can be emailed to CMS here.

Free Mobile Apps

Free mobile apps are available to track your own payments from the healthcare industry. They can be downloaded from the Google Play or the Apple app store. Search for Open Payments Mobile for Physicians. This does not interact with the CMS systems or CMS contractors but it allows you to compare this information with information about you provided to CMS. Additional information regarding the Open Payments app is available here.