Light from sunshine bill may reach more targets
Executive Summary
Co-sponsors of the Physicians Payment Sunshine Act are discussing broadening its beam to cover more recipients of industry funding. Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has recommended that a public database include not only pharmaceutical and device company payments to physicians, but also to academic medical centers, continuing medical education organizations and patient and physician advocacy groups (1"The Pink Sheet," Sept. 8, 2008, p. 20). It is anticipated that CME providers will be covered when PPSA is reintroduced in 2009, according to a staffer at the Senate Aging Committee, whose chairman, Herb Kohl, D-Wis., co-authored the bill with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa