Senators Urge Earlier Action on Physician Payment Sunshine Law

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) sent a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, secreatry of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to move forward witth implementation of the physician payment sunshine act, which requires drug and medical-device companies to disclose payments, gifts and other items of value given to doctors.

The law, which was sponsored by the senators, was passed as a part of the healthcare reform law earlier this year. The provision is set to take effect Sept. 30, 2013, but Kohl and Grassley expressed concern that early complaince efforts by companies is causing confusion among consumers.

“Both academic institutions and manufacturers are releasing payment data about the same transactions, but with different levels of precision addressing different time periods,” the senators wrote. “As a result, the information appears to conflict and is therefore difficult for the public to use.”

Kohl and Grassley have asked Sebelius to “promptly” designate an agency to oversee the creation and operation of the national disclosure database, which will establish a single, uniform source of payment disclosure information. The lawmakers also have asked HHS to brief the Senate Finance and Aging committees on the agency’s work and provide an opportunity for committee members to participate in the development process.

Kohl is chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging and Grassley is ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance.

The letter is available here: http://finance.senate.gov/newsroom/ranking/download/?id=3cb115bc-b7e8-44….