Our Ongoing Support for Transparency

There’s a buzz going on today, caused by an article in The New York Times about government oversight of biopharmaceutical research company payments to physicians. These payments, as our web site’s sales and marketing page explains, are compensation for important educational and research services provided by expert physicians.

Although it came across as a newly announced mandate, the regulation that the article addresses is the Physician Payment Sunshine provision of the Affordable Care Act, which is now in the implementation phase. 

Just as we supported this provision when it was moving through the legislative process, recognizing the importance of transparency about valuable physician interactions with biopharmaceutical companies, we have also worked to constructively contribute to the implementation of the reporting provision. In December, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released proposed rules about implementation, and we plan to submit a response, on behalf of our member companies, as part of the public comment procedure. Comments are due in mid-February.

We also hope to continue to aid the process by working with CMS to ensure that, when disclosure begins next year, the information that is conveyed includes context that helps patients understand the important contributions that their physicians are making to patient care, future medical progress and to the healthcare system overall when they work with biopharmaceutical companies.