In preparation for data collection to begin under the Physician Payment Sunshine Act Final Rule on August 1, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released yesterday the list of teaching hospital covered recipients to which payments and other transfers of value must be reported by applicable drug and device manufacturers. The list, which will be updated annually by CMS at least 90-days before the beginning of a reporting year, can be found on CMS’ National Physician Payment Transparency Program: OPEN PAYMENTS website and includes approximately 1,100 legal business names that are organized by state and tax identification number.
CMS also announced this week that it will be holding a National Provider Call on Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 2:30 PM EST, directed at physicians and teaching hospitals. The agenda for the call includes an overview of the Final Rule, key dates, the role of covered recipients and resources available to covered recipients.
Meanwhile, stakeholders and their representatives, including the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), have continued to seek additional clarification from CMS on a variety of outstanding questions. These questions include whether journal reprints provided by a manufacturer to a physician or teaching hospital have a discernible economic value that triggers reporting requirements, what constitutes a payment or transfer of value to a teaching hospital as opposed to payments or transfers of value to an employee of the teaching hospital, and more. Ideally, CMS will issue further guidance on these issues in sufficient time for applicable manufacturers to prepare for the data collection deadline this summer.