US release of medtech/pharma payments to doctors criticized
This article was originally published in SRA
There have been complaints aimed at the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' launch of its so-called "Open Payments" system, an online database of drug and medical device manufacturers' financial interactions with physicians, which is required under the Physician Payment Sunshine Act1,2.
"Troubling questions remain about the accuracy of the data and the lack of context with which it is being presented," the American Medical Association said of the database, which was launched on 30 September3.
Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, commented4: "It is disappointing that CMS failed to provide the necessary context about these disclosures – and how they should be read."
Mr Greenwood said: "We are very concerned that some third parties will attempt to misuse the data, potentially threatening innovation in our nation’s health care system."
The CMS withheld one-third of the data from the initial public release last week as a result of concerns about accuracy.
"Much of the remaining two-thirds of data… released in the public database has yet to be verified by physicians and other covered recipients," the AMA charged.
The group was among those earlier this year that had called for the CMS to postpone the deadline for doctors to review and seek corrections of inaccurate claims made by pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturers and group purchasing organizations to the database.
The AMA insisted safeguards are needed to ensure that information is depicted correctly and given context to be useful for patients and fair to physicians.
"Publishing inaccurate data can lead to misinterpretations, harm reputations and cause patients to question their trust in their physicians. Inaccurate data also can unfairly impact physicians' ability to obtain or keep research grants and other employment opportunities that require disclosure," the doctors' group declared.
Mr Greenwood added that to comply with the Sunshine Act, its BIO members, "many of them small companies just bringing their first product to market, have spent time and money that otherwise would have been spent in search of the next life-saving innovation or cure."
References
- CMS press release, 30 September 2014, www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Press-releases/2014-Press-releases-items/2014-09-30.html
- Financial relationship reporting obligations to start in the US for medtech and pharma, Scrip Regulatory Affairs, 22 July 2013
- AMA press release, 29 September 2014, www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/ama-wire/ama-wire/post/ama-advocated-sunshine-act-implementation-overhaul
- BIO press release, 30 September 2014, www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140930006839/en/BIO-Statement-Lack-Context-CMS%E2%80%99s-Sunshine-Data#.VDJ3lle8o0E