The Physician Payments Sunshine Act: Implications and Predictions

Abstract

* Abbreviation: FCA — : False Claims Act On June 30, 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the 2016 Open Payments data, which (as required by the Physician Payments Sunshine Act of the Affordable Care Act) disclose payments and any other “transfers of value” to physicians from commercial entities (https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov). This was the third complete year of the availability of this information. It now includes payment information from over 2000 companies that have made ∼40 million payments to over 900 000 physicians for a total of nearly 25 billion dollars. The vast majority of these payments are for relatively small dollar amounts (<$100) related to the provision of food and beverages. Each year, before the release of the information, physicians have the opportunity to refute their own personal data; however, relatively few corrections have been requested or made. At its inception, the Sunshine Act (named in honor of Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, who famously wrote, “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants…”1) was expected to better inform the public about their physicians’ financial dealings with pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. For example, in an analysis of payments accepted by pediatricians in 2014, it was discovered that most payments were associated with medications that treat attention-deficient/hyperactivity disorder and vaccinations.2 This may lead parents and child advocates to question the true intent of these types of prescriptions. But, despite this original intention, there has been no indication that the lay public is prepared … Address correspondence to Ronald S. Litman, DO, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 3401 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104. E-mail: litmanr{at}email.chop.edu