The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) took offline the payments database used by drug and device makers to disclose payments to doctors and teaching hospitals under the Sunshine Act, a part of the Affordable Care Act. CMS's action came in response to complaints that some doctors could see the payments made by other doctors.
"We believe this problem is limited to a small number of physicians and we are working to fully assess and correct the issue," CMS said in a statement according to The Wall Street Journal. "In the interim, we do not want physicians to see data which does not belong to them, so we are temporarily suspending Open Payments registration. We will also work with the responsible companies to make them aware of the issue and correct the root data."
Nonprofit investigative journalism outfit ProPublica revealed the news last week, pointing out that a doctor with the name David E. Mann saw the payments received by another doctor also named David E. Mann.
CMS will adjust rollout of the payments database for each day the system is offline, the Wall Street Journal said. That means devicemakers--as well as drugmakers--will have more time to spend on the data review period, originally scheduled to run from July 14 to Aug. 27. A 15-day correction period will begin once the review period is finished.
The provision to expand transparency has come under increased criticism as it progresses toward full implementation. Several associations--including the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance, American College of Radiology and American College of Surgeons--sent a July 28 letter to CMS administrator Marilyn B. Tavenner urging the agency to "provide details on the context that will be included in the data release, increase educational efforts and outreach, and simplify physician registration requirements."
AdvaMed also weighed in with a June 2 letter to Tavenner with recommendations on the act's dispute resolution and corrections process.
-here's the WSJ article (sub. req.)
-here's the ProPublica story