Physician Payments Sunshine Act: Organizations Respond to CMS

 
September 2nd marked the last day for comments on CMS’ proposed rule to eliminate the accredited continuing medical education (CME) exemption from Sunshine Act reporting.  In an overwhelming display of support for the exemption, over 800 comments were submitted encouraging the agency to either maintain or expand the current exclusion.
-Total comments supporting maintenance or expansion of the CME exemption:  820
-Total comments supporting elimination of the CME exemption:  approximately 20
-Percentage of comments supporting the CME exemption: 98%
We have followed this issue closely, and recently analyzed the CME Coalition’s comments and recommendations, as well as the American Medical Association and Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).

Leading Medical Societies Submit Comments
In addition to the AMA, the major medical societies commented in favor of the CME exemption, including the American College of Physicians, the American College of Surgeons, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the American Dental Association (ADA). 
Over 200 leading medical societies have submitted or signed onto comments to CMS urging the maintenance or expansion of the CME reporting exemption, including the following:  

American Medical Association: On August 5, over 100 medical societies including the America...

Source: Policy and Medicine - September 8, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs